


Blood Trials

by TheFAYZ



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Blood and Injury, Blood and Violence, Bottom Liam, Explicit Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Minor Character Death, Minor Original Character(s), Multi, Recreational Drug Use, References to Drugs, Rough Sex, Sexual Tension, Swearing, Top Zayn, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-01
Updated: 2014-12-06
Packaged: 2018-02-07 00:29:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 54,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1878201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFAYZ/pseuds/TheFAYZ
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Surviving in the zombie apocalypse is hard, Liams been doing it alone since he was 16. Avoiding people and staying on his toes has been what's kept him alive for the past 3 years, but 19 year old Liam makes the mistake of attacking 21 year old Zayn Malik and soon finds himself in the middle of a war he doesn't want to be involved in. But with the threat of attack looming and the bloodlust of both sides leaders growing, its up to Liam to stop the fighting before it even begins.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Dark

**Author's Note:**

> This story is going to take a while to come completely out because frankly its going to be extremely long. Chapter wise we are looking at about 4 or 5 (don't hold me to this it could change lol) but I guarantee it WILL all be published. This is my first story on here so sorry if its a bit rough, I promise I'm trying haha. Hope you enjoy...fair warning this story gets pretty damn dark at some points, all I'm saying is I put the rating as explicit for a reason.  
> This story does sort of take place in the Walking Dead universe but this isn't a crossover, honestly all you will probably notice is I call zombies walkers and thats pretty much the only relation between the two. Oh sorry last thing, I apologize for any errors in spelling or grammar I reread this thing like 5 times and tried to catch it all but I'm sure some slipped through the cracks.
> 
> Anyway I hope you enjoy!

 “Haven’t tasted that in forever.”

“What, this?” he held up the Hershey’s bar and the cute one laughed.

“Jesus. Chocolate, real chocolate…” He reached for it but the other one held it back and put it in his backpack.

“Not yet mate, got to save it for now.”

“Aww c’mon man just one bite…”

“Not…yet.” He said with a laugh.

“Let’s just save it for now until we see how much food we can get today, then I promise if we get a lot of food you can have some.” The long haired one, Louis, let out a loud sigh.

“Fine, but I’m gonna hold you to that Malik.”

_“God dammit just say his first name…”_ I grumbled to myself, taking a small bite out of the dried fruit I had found. I watched as the two of them entered the pharmacy and I growled, I could no longer see them from the bush I had been hiding in. I shifted a bit, gripping my sheathed katana in my left hand and my combat knife in my right.

Now the real question, should I go in?

I could probably take them, easily in fact. They had no idea I was here, I knew how to keep my distance, keep to the shadows, and you learn a thing or two being pretty much alone for 3 years in the apocalypse. You learned how to hide from the flesh eaters and you learned to hide from other humans who wanted nothing more than to kill you and steal your things. I had the element of surprise…but they had a shotgun, an SMG, and both had pistols on their hips. Armed to the teeth, I could respect that. I used to have a gun, a glock, but that was lost after I ran out of bullets and I managed to ruin it by beating a flesh eater to death with it and fucking up the chamber. But that’s when I realized all I needed was a katana that I found in a pawn shop, a combat knife I picked off an undead soldier, and a backpack I got out of a convenience store.

I didn’t care about getting their guns, I mostly just wanted all the food they had…and that car, at least for a while…cars were too loud and conspicuous nowadays, walking had honestly been what’s helped keep me alive all these years…but having a car for just a while would be very nice, it would definitely help with giving my tired legs a break.

“Guess I just decided.” I mumbled to myself. I dashed across the street, carefully checking left and right as I did, I could only see one flesh eater far away, not a threat right now. I got to the door and quickly ran in, hiding behind the front counter. I couldn’t see Louis but I did see the other one, he hadn’t noticed me and was staring at the back of some kind of small pill container, reading whatever it said on it. I ran a hand over my buzz cut hair and took a deep, silent breath. I peaked my head over the counter, he was still reading whatever the pill bottle said, the other one, Louis, was still not in sight.

I bit my thumb, go for it or wait for the cute one Louis. I bit my thumb harder, my decision made. I jumped up and ran at the dark hot one. He turned, shotgun already out, but too late. I placed the blade of my sword against his throat and pressed the tip of my knife against his stomach.

“Scream you die.” I said in a whisper, I was so close I could feel the heat radiating from his skin. I couldn’t believe myself but one of my first thoughts was that he was much more beautiful up close.

“Drop the shotgun…slowly and quietly.” I whispered again. I felt my knees shake slightly but quickly managed to control them, I hoped he didn’t notice.

“Knees weak huh? You eat anything lately?” He asked. I was a little stunned, he didn’t look frightened or pissed or…anything. His beautiful face was a mask of…nothing.

“Where’s your friend?” I said, quickly hiding my stunned look.

“No clue, somewhere I’m sure, Louis has a habit of showing up when you least…” My vision suddenly blurred, my head suddenly throbbed with pain and I lost control of my body as my weapons clattered from my hand and I started to fall.

“Expect it.” I heard Louis snicker before I was overtaken by black.

**_-Few Hours Later-_ **

I woke up to a pounding headache and a feeling of warmth over my body. My eyes flickered open and the first thing I noticed was the ceiling, the wooden ceiling with a moving fan, an actual fan, something that required electricity. I felt something on my forehead, gauze by the feel of it. I suddenly became very aware that I was in a bed, a very comfy bed. The second thing I noticed was that I was only wearing boxers. I tried to move, only to feel something tug my right arm back. I sat up and found I was shackled to the wood wall. I looked all around me, confused at what I saw. The room was dome shaped, all wood. There were two large windows and in-between them a large wooden door. Both windows had the curtains down so I couldn’t see outside. There was a large black leather couch just a couple feet away, almost in the middle of the room, in front of it a fireplace and a fur rug. I cringed a bit; it reminded me of something you’d see in those cheesy romantic movies. I noticed a small square table right in the middle of the room, with 5 chairs tucked into it.

I began to realize how big of a bed I was on; this thing was a god damn California king size bed. I had never seen one in real life. It was built partially into the wall, it’s like this place was built to be able to accompany it and everything else was just added to give the room a bit more…oomph. I looked over at the right side of the room, there was a door to another room but it was closed and I could see nothing. No other doors or windows, from what I could tell the only way in or out was the front door. I crawled off the bed and stood on shaky legs, I hadn’t realized how skinny I had gotten, though I shouldn’t be surprised, it _had_ been a while since I had had a proper meal. I walked over to the wall; my chain was attached to a small metal hoop that seemed to have been bolted down. I could tell just by looking at it that it was a recent addition to this room, probably did it just for me. I tried tugging on it but to no avail; it didn’t even attempt to move. I stared down at the chain, trying to find some kind of chink or weakness, but nothing; it looked like a brand new chain.

I looked down at the shackle and found where the key goes in to unlock it, if I could just find a bobby pin or something I could pick this easy, I had learned long ago how to lock pick from my uncle. I walked over to the small dresser next to the bed. I opened the top drawer, nothing but a bible. I then opened the second drawer…I felt the heat rise from my feet to my head. Two unopened boxes of large condoms, a large bottle of lube, and a smaller bottle of strawberry edible lube. I quickly shut the drawer and backed away as a very dark thought entered my mind. What if…what did…they plan on doing to me? What if this is some kind of sick cult and I was going to be their like….sex slave or something?

Hell no, I was no one’s slave

I walked across the room, stretching the 6 foot chain out completely but I managed to reach the wood dresser. I opened the top drawer, nothing but a bunch of boxer briefs. I opened the second drawer, a ton of T-shirts all folded neatly just like the underwear. I opened the middle drawer, neatly folded long sleeve shirts; the fourth drawer contained a bunch of folded pants. I took a deep breath before opening the fifth and final drawer. I let out my breath and grinned. It was more pants, but one had a bobby pin in it. I quickly pulled it out of the pants and closed the drawer before walking back over to the bed and began working on the shackle. I was aware of how eerily quiet it was as I worked, afraid of that door suddenly opening before I was finished, afraid of becoming some cults sex dog, afraid of what I was going to find outside once I opened that door.

I felt the little clink inside and suddenly the shackle opened for me, I let myself grin in triumph as I tossed it on the bed and rubbed my wrist. I stood and walked over to the door before suddenly realizing I was still only in underwear…underwear that I also suddenly realized weren’t mine. Getting the mental image of people I didn’t know undressing me out of my head, I walked over to the dresser and began to dig for clothes. I pulled on an old plain black T-shirt two sizes too big and a pair of shorts I had to tighten the belt all the way to get them to stay on. I walked over to the front door and turned the handle…only to find it was locked.

Oh course it was locked Liam, did you really think it would be that easy? I stared, it had two locks, one was a chain lock but that was already off, the other was, to my complete confusion, a keycard lock, as in I needed to swipe a keycard to unlock it.

“Where the fuck am I?” I said out loud to myself. What kind of place had a keycard lock on the inside to get out? I cursed my horrible luck, I was stuck. Maybe the windows? I peeked out of the large left window, making sure not to open them all the way. It was daytime, outside was a large wooden patio complete with a short stair and wooden railings with some kind of bird carved into the end of them…and on either side were two people, a girl and a boy, with rifles slung over their backs. The two were facing each other and talking, the girl laughed but I could barely make that sound out, she said something but I couldn’t hear it. I looked farther out, past them, and saw a small wooden cabin, and next to it another one, and another. They were all regular shaped, which meant this one was special for some reason. I also noticed a very large gate straight down a large rocky road. The cabins were all on the side of this road and the road led to this cabin. The gate was attached to a stone wall that, from what I could tell, surrounded this place. I could see  a bunch of people walking around the cabins, 2 women were talking and laughing as they hung out laundry to dry on a line in-between 2 cabins, I could see 5 kids playing tag a little farther down the road, and a bunch of others just walking around doing various odd things.

 Once again I found myself asking where the fuck was I. I looked back down at the people with rifles, and was stunned to see the girl staring right at me. Oh fuck she saw me. She said something and pointed right at me, the guy, a short blond haired kid, turned his head and looked. I quickly shut the curtain and quickly back away from the window, I kept walking back until I tripped and fell onto the floor.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

The little red light on the keycard swipe suddenly turned green and the door opened.

“Hey!” The girl said, the rifle in her hand pointed at me.

“How did…how did you get the shackle off?!” She said, voice filled with anger and confusion. I found that I couldn’t get myself to speak, I didn’t want to reveal anything about myself to these people and it was a bit alarming to have a gun pointed at me. I was so used to most hostile things simply trying to run at me and eat me that having a loaded gun pointed right at my face was almost surreal.

 “I’m asking you a question here kid!” she took a step forward, the rifle pointing right in-between my eyes,  but a hand quickly lowered it back onto the ground.

“Eleanor, calm down.” The blond one said.

“But Niall…”

“Its fine Elle, go get Zayn, he’ll want to know he’s awake.” She stared at me then looked back at Niall, who was giving such an infectious smile I almost thought I should be smiling too.

“Alright.” She said, giving me a warning glare before walking out the door and closing it. The door beeped and suddenly the light turned back to red.

“Before you even think about trying to attack me…just be aware I don’t have a key so you’ll still be stuck in here and when they see me dead they won’t hesitate to gun you down mate.” He chuckled; I noticed the ting of an Irish accent. I said nothing, instead opting to turn around and crawl onto the bed. I sat cross legged on the bed and waited, I knew he was right so what was the point in fighting right now? I just needed to wait, bide my time, I’d find a way out of this mess…I’ve gotten out of worse situations.

“So…what’s your name mate?” I said nothing; I just raised my head and stared at him, sizing him up. He was a bit shorter than me; he had on a plain white T-shirt with one sleeve ripped off and a pair of tattered looking jeans with holes in the knees, complete with a pair of worn black leather boots. He had semi long blond hair and laugh lines, he looked surprisingly cheery considering the situation.

“Ah don’t talk much eh?” He said with a laugh. “It’s alright if you don’t want to talk, I bet you’re probably really freaked out about this whole situation but I promise you we probably won’t hurt you.”

Probably? We probably won’t hurt you? Oh fuck me.

“Anyway, names Niall Horan, you got a name buzzcut?” I didn’t answer, trying my best not to show how terrified and frustrated I was.

“Ah c’mon buzzcut, no reason not to at least give me a name.” I frowned, should I answer him? Despite how terrified I was…Niall seemed nice, really nice in fact, and genuine. I suppose my name wouldn’t hurt.

“It’s…Payne. Liam Payne.” I said, changing my position a bit so my knees were pulled up to my chest and my arms were wrapped around it. He stood and smiled sweetly at me.

“Ah, Liam, nice name…probably just gonna call you either Payne or buzzcut though, I love my nicknames.” He walked over to the wall; I never let my eyes leave him. He picked up the shackle off the floor and laughed.

“Seriously kid, how’d you manage this? This whole thing…the hoop, the chain, the shackle, all brand new, yet you got out of it like it was nothing…” I didn’t answer, just stared at him, most of my face hiding in my knees. There was no way in hell, no matter how nice of a person he genuinely seemed to be, I was telling him that I could lock pick…or that I still had the bobby pin hidden in the bible in the top drawer.

“Hmm…maybe we just didn’t lock it properly? No I could have sworn…maybe it’s just fucked up?” He seemed genuinely puzzled, which was good, as long as he didn’t figure it out I’d still have a card in my hand.

“Ah well, maybe this time.” His arm suddenly shot out and he grabbed my arm. I was so stunned by the unexpected motion that I didn’t fight him. He clamped the shackle on my wrist and all I could do was stare at him, feeling utterly betrayed by his kindness.

“Sorry.” He said, a deep frown on his face. Despite the fact that I felt betrayed…I couldn’t help but believe him, I think he genuinely was sorry.

“You’ll thank me later. I’ll tell them you let me shackle you back up willingly, it’ll make them less likely to kill you…buzzcut please listen to me. I’m a nice guy, this is a wonderful community…but we are very, very, mistrustful. Twice in the past 2 years we’ve been attacked by groups of people who want to take what we have…it goes without saying that they failed, and it was fatal for them.” His eyes darkened as some kind of phantom memory seemed to overtake him, just for a second, before he seemed to come back and continue.

“When you were brought here…well, Louis told us everything that happened and believe me bringing you here and not just killing you made more than a few people unhappy. There’s about 80 of us and a lot of us want you dead, luckily for you only 2 of those people are on the council but…” I just stared at him, royally confused and he laughed.

“Sorry I’m confusing you…I’ll just shorten this. We have a council of 5 people who make the decisions, 2 of them just want you dead, 2 of them want you alive…and then there’s Zayn.” Niall chuckled.

“I don’t know anything about you Payne, but I don’t think you seem like a psycho murderer or a Trojan horse for some human group trying to get in. If you want to at least make sure they don’t just shoot you in the head? You need to play nice…and this?” He held up the chain and gave me a sympathetic smile.

“Is the first step.”

“Nicely put Niall.” He jumped about a foot and I froze, the voice sounded so familiar. We both turned our heads and there he was, the one I had held my sword against, who felt so hot up close. He was wearing a black tank top and a pair of black jeans. He had a cigarette tucked into his ear, a smirk on his lips that I’m sure made anyone with any sense in them swoon. He looked like a super model which confused the fuck out of me considering the state the world was in, I didn’t think people had time to look so damn attractive anymore. He had an array of tattoos on his arms and I could see myself spending a good hour or two looking at all of them, but I suppose now really wasn’t the time. He walked in, 3 other people (one of whom I recognized as Louis) right behind him. As he walked in he grabbed a chair from the table and sat it right in front of me, I backed up instinctively, my back hitting the wood wall and a pillow.

“So...how long…” Niall started.

“Not long, just you saying you don’t think he’s a psycho murderer.” Someone piped in. The one in question was a very tall boy with a head of curls that kind of blew my mind. He was very cute, he reminded me of Niall in the sense that he had an air of happiness about him and a smile that made you feel warm inside. He walked around and sat on the bed, about a foot away from me. He kicked off his boots, the bright blue V neck sweater dropped a bit on him, it looked too big for him, and the sleeves went to his knuckles. He suddenly started to crawl to me on the bed. I panicked and quickly tried to crawl away, the probably irrational images of becoming some kind of sex slave flashed in my mind and I tried hard to get away, but was suddenly stopped by the chain reaching its limit.

“Woah woah calm down…um…” he frowned.

“It’s Liam.” Niall suddenly said.

“Ah so got him to talk?” Louis said.

“No, I got his name but that was all he’s said…he’s not exactly talkative.”

“I see.” One of the other people said, a girl who looked to be pretty young, definitely in her 20’s.

“Is it ok if I check your bandages? Lou hit you pretty hard you know, the bleeding should have stopped by now though.” The curly haired one said, very slowly crawling towards me. I just stared at him; he didn’t seem to want to hurt me. I lowered my arms to my side and he crawled right up to me.

“I’m Harry by the way.” He said, cautiously reaching and unwrapping the bandage from around my head. He smiled as he stared at the side of my head.

“It stopped bleeding, wasn’t too bad, luckily Lou doesn’t hit too hard.”

“Shut it Hazza.” Louis grumbled. Harry just laughed and sat down next to me, smiling sweetly at me.

“So, Liam, do you mind answering some questions for us?” I stared at him, then turned my head and saw the rest of the group. Niall had propped his rifle up against the wall with his shoes and was now sitting on the bed as well. The girl who looked about 20 and looked really really pretty was sitting down in a chair at the foot of the bed next to Louis, who was standing with his arms crossed watching me with a look of caution in his eyes, like he expected me to suddenly try to make a run for it or attack someone. And then there was Zayn, who hadn’t said a word and hadn’t shown a bit of emotion since he sat down…and also hadn’t stopped staring at me.

“Ah come on, don’t be shy.” Harry said, laughing lightly. I frowned, so far the only people in this room I’d be willing to talk to were Niall and Harry, so as long as they asked the questions I’d answer, screw the rest of them.

“Ok.” I said quietly. I moved so I was sitting Indian style next to Harry, who had propped himself against the back of the bed. I grabbed a small pillow and hugged it against myself, wanting something to hold on to.

“Why were you in town?” He asked.

“I was looking for food.” I said, I needed to keep my answers short, don’t give away too much information.

“How long had you been in town?”

“About a week.”

“Jesus you were in town that long? Can’t believe we didn’t notice you.” Louis said, rubbing the back of his head.

“Did you find any food?” Harry asked, ignoring Louis.

“Not…much, anything in the bag was all I had managed to find.”

“Before you got to town…how long had it been since you’d eaten? I got to ask…you look starved.” He said, giving me these sad eyes that seemed genuinely concerned about me.

“I…don’t know, 3 days?” He gave a small gasp.

“Oh you poor…I don’t understand all you had in your bag was some dried fruit and half a bag of trail mix…but the grocery store was right there why didn’t you…”

“The first day I got there I was going to raid a house, big and blue and filled with like 10 flesh eaters. I didn’t want to mess with that. I went into a couple more houses but they had already been looted when I got there. I found a little apartment complex but almost all the apartments were wiped sides the dried fruit and trail mix. Slept in one of those for the night but the next day I planned on raiding the grocery store and risking taking out whatever was in there…but when I got there those two…” I pointed at Zayn and Louis.

“…were already there, so I sat back and watched. They came out with a shit ton of food, took them a few hours before they had that van filled with food then left…I went after and was gonna take some…but I didn’t know if the town was claimed by a human group, and didn’t know if you guys were coming back, so I left the food…if any was moved and you noticed, for all I knew you guys had like 20 more guys who’d search the town for whoever took the food. So I didn’t fuck with anything…and I waited…and waited. I was about to just risk grabbing some but then you came back and loaded up the car with a ton more food. But instead of leaving, you went into a pharmacy and…well…you know the rest.”

“I see, so you kill us and take the car, which is all nice and loaded up with food for you, and then you drive off. Was that the plan?” Louis asked, I stiffened.

“I…didn’t want to kill you. I was….am…desperate. I don’t go into towns often, I saw an opportunity and I went for it…as you can probably tell it was a mistake, but I swear to you I didn’t want or plan on killing you just…getting the car keys from you.” It wasn’t a complete lie I suppose, truth be told if it came to killing them I probably could have done it without hesitation, considering some of the horrible things I’d been forced to do in the last 3 years…well, let’s just say when it comes to a car full of food, I’ve killed for less.

“Are there others?” Louis asked.

“Others who’ll come looking for you? Huh?” I looked away from him, I already broke my rule and answered someone not Harry or Niall, I wasn’t doing it again.

“Don’t ignore me kid answer me.” He snapped.

“Are there others?!? God dammit answer me or I swear to god…”

“Lou stop it!” Harry snapped at him. I felt terrified, mostly because during the yelling Louis had put his hand on the revolver in the holster on his hip.

“No. God dammit Harry I love you but you’re too trusting. For all we know he’s lying through his teeth. For all we know he has a dozen people looking for him, and when they find out he’s here…we don’t need another massacre like…”

“Shut it Louis, don’t bring that up.” The girl said, shaking her head.

“No one will come looking for me…so kill me.” I said. The arguing stopped and they all stared at me…besides Zayn, Zayn never stopped staring.

“What?” Harry said. I just laughed, it sounded bitter.

“You all don’t trust me. I get that, I really do. So kill me, I don’t have…anyone, anyone at all…just me, just Liam.” I felt my eyes get misty…ah dammit not now, stop it Liam, and stop thinking about…about…

“No one to miss me or, hell, even care. So just…do what you want to me, I won’t blame you, I’m so tired of living alone anyway.” I said, tears streaking down my face.

“How…how long?” Harry asked, he wasn’t clear but I knew what he meant.

“I’ve been alone for 3 years.”

“Fuck me, 3 years?! Fuck me…” Niall said, staring at me.

“How the fuck are you even still alive?!” The girl said. I didn’t answer her.

“Liam how…” Harry started.

“I told you…I don’t do towns often. I’ve mostly been living in wooded areas, places on the outskirts or away from towns and cities. Less flesh eaters, more animals to hunt, more safe places to sleep…I only do towns or cities if I am at the lowest of the low food wise. This last time I hadn’t seen an animal in days, my snares weren’t catching shit, and I…got desperate.”

“I don’t know about this, 3 years? Alone? I find it hard to believe.” Louis said, frowning.

“Lou stop being such an arse.” Harry grumbled. Louis looked wounded by his words but said nothing.

“Sorry Harry, but I’m with Louis on this, I find it kind of hard to believe.” The woman said.

“Aw come on Cher…” Niall said with a frown.

“Well I believe you.” Harry said, patting me on the back.

“So do I.” Niall said, smiling.

“So then, I guess we’re all still split.” Cher said. It suddenly hit me. A council, group of 5 people in charge, 2 want to kill me 2 want to let me live…and…oh. So, the council was Niall, Harry, Louis, Cher, and…Zayn. It’s pretty obvious who wants me dead and who wants me to live, which means the final decision belongs to…

It’s like he could see the realization in my eyes, he didn’t stop staring but my eyes met his and now he knew that I knew that my life was in his hands. I stared at him as the others all were arguing over me but it’s like I was listening to them far, far away. I stared at him, he stared back. I felt fresh tears streak down my cheek without my being able to help it. He stared at me, still no emotion crossed his face, he simply stared in that unnerving, unsettling, quiet way of his.

“Everyone leave.” He suddenly said. The room got quiet, everyone looked at Zayn.

“Zayn…”Louis started.

“The vote is split. It’s my decision now. I want to talk to him…alone.” He said, not looking away from me.

“Well…you know our votes, but I can say that whatever you decide, we’ll follow.” Louis said quietly. He patted Zayn on the shoulder and started for the door, Cher and Niall right behind him.

“Harry?” Zayn said, staring at the boy who hadn’t made to move off the bed. Harry huffed angrily and suddenly pulled me into a hug.

“You hurt him Zayn I swear I won’t forgive you.” Harry said angrily, hugging me tighter.

“I understand.” Zayn said, a tint of humor in his voice. Harry let me go and wiped the tears off my face with his shirt sleeve, and then gave me an unexpected kiss on the forehead.

“Don’t worry, Zayn acts tough but he’s a big softie.”

“Thanks…it was really nice meeting you.” I said, and I meant it too, if anything came of this experience I had to say, meeting Harry truly was a highlight of it all. Harry crawled off the bed and took his time putting his shoes back on, I watched him get up and leave, Louis still waiting with the door open watching it all in silence.

“I’m mad at you.” I heard Harry huff as he walked past Louis.

“Ah dammit…” Louis grumbled as he closed the door, I heard it beep once then lock.

“So…do you want to die?” He asked, kicking off his shoes. I stared at him; he didn’t seem to be joking.

“If I did I would have killed myself about 3 years ago.” I said angrily. He gave a throaty chuckle in response and crawled onto the bed.

“Like the bed?” He asked.

“It’s comfy to say the least.” I said, and I meant it too.

“Well this is your bed for the time being so you better get used to it.” He said, sitting down next to me.

“Come again?” I asked, confusion evident on my face.

“The bed, it’s yours, not sure how much clearer I can be.” He said, giving me a small smile.

“So…does this mean…”

“It means you’ll get to keep on living…living to earn our trust.” He said.

“Niall already seemed to like you, and you’ve already somehow managed to get Harry to love you, though honestly not much of a surprise since Harry loves everyone, which means in the next, oh, week you need to earn Cher, Louis, and my trust, or we’re gonna have to kill you.”

“So if I can prove to you all I’m not actually some blood thirsty cannibal or a spy for some human group, then you’ll…what, let me go?”

“Let you go, let you live with us, if you can earn everyone’s trust then you’re free to do whatever you want.”

“And if I refuse to play your game?” He suddenly had a knife against my throat, his face was just an inch away, his knee was in-between my legs and was dangerously close to my groin.

“Then I do to you what you considered doing to me.” He said, his eyes suddenly dark and terrifying. I felt terror fill my very being; this dark side of him was so sudden and unexpected that I didn’t know how to react.

“P-please get that away from my neck.” I said, trying my best to remain calm even though all I wanted to do was cry and try to hide myself.

“I just want this to be clear…I don’t like it when people threaten to kill me, it’s happened a few times in my life and it never ends well for the other guy. You’re lucky Louis knocked you out and you’re so cute, otherwise I would have pried both of those blades from your hands and cut you down.” He hissed. I couldn’t speak; we sat there for a few seconds before I finally said something.

“You think I’m cute?” His eyes flashed a bit with surprised, the cold ruthless anger dissipated and he suddenly snickered and said.

“Eh, I have a thing for buzzcuts.” He suddenly tossed the knife away, I heard it clatter and clang onto the floor. He pulled something out of his pocket, a small silver key. He unlocked my shackle and said.

“Now, get out of my clothes. There is a small bag in the bathroom with some clothes that should fit. Take a shower and brush your teeth, I’ll be back in a few minutes with food and we can eat some dinner and I’ll explain how things are going to work around here and then we sleep. Harry insisted earlier that if we let you live he gets to give you the tour of Fort Hope so…”

“Wait, this place is a Fort?” He crawled off the bed and put his shoes on.

“I’ll let Harry explain all of that tomorrow…now shower up, we cleaned you a bit but you could use a proper shower…by the way I should mention you only get hot water for like 2 minutes so…ya, I suggest a quick one.” He started for the door, picking up the knife and putting it away in the holster on his hip along the way.

“Wait…I have one more question…” I said, standing up. He turned.

“Who the fuck undressed and cleaned me?” He laughed.

“It was sort of a joint effort between Harry and Perrie…you don’t know her yet, she’s a lesbian and Harry’s with Louis so don’t worry, no inappropriate touching or anything…and before you ask why we cleaned you, well, we don’t exactly have a dungeon and I knew if you were going to be tied up in here I didn’t want dirty grungy you fucking up my bed.”

“Your bed?” He slid the keycard through the machine and the door beeped open.

“Ya, this is my house, everywhere else is full up or didn’t want to take you so looks like you’ll be living with me. So shower up, I don’t want your BO smell fucking with the room.” He walked out and I was left feeling very confused and very tired, this wasn’t at all what I had expected or planned on this being like. I let out a loud sigh and walked into the room I hadn’t been able to reach before. The bathroom was small, tiled floor and a single sink with a small mirror and toilet, along with a small glass shower. I stripped off my clothes and walked up to the sink. There was a small toothbrush holder with a single black toothbrush in it, and next to that a stick of Axe deodorant. Sitting on the counter was a folded towel with an unopened pack of deodorant, a bright blue toothbrush, and sitting next to that a pair of black boxer briefs, a V neck navy blue T shirt, a pair of cargo shorts, and an unopened bar of soap and one of those tiny soaps you get in hotels for my hair.

I looked at myself in the mirror…it had been so long since I had done so I was surprised yet not surprised at all about my haggard appearance. I had dark circles under my eyes, my eyes were slightly bloodshot. My hair was actually recent, it had gotten to the point that it was so long, I went into a town about a week ago and managed to find a barber shop and buzzed my hair myself. I felt behind my head and flinched when I touched the still tender bump in the back of my head, I suppose it could have been worse. I stripped off the clothes and cringed. I wasn’t a bag of bones but my stomach looked a bit hollow and I could almost count my ribs. I did still have some muscle on me though; you wouldn’t make it through the apocalypse if you were super out of shape after all.

I turned and stared at the shower, it had been so damn long since I had gotten to wash myself properly and not just splash some water on me from a lake or a river. I grabbed the soap and turned it on, and was met by heaven. I had to just close my eyes and let myself embrace it, for just a second, before Zayn’s words flashed into my head and I remember I only had 2 minutes of hot water. I scrubbed myself furiously, wanting to get any and all grime off of me. They had did well before, Harry and the lesbian I couldn’t remember the name of, but some of my more, ahem, private areas I could tell they avoided, so I focused on those parts the most. The water ran dark brown at first but soon became clear after a good 30 seconds of scrubbing. I focused on my head next, the hair soap didn’t exactly do much with the buzzcut but I used it anyway, it felt nice. Soon the water turned icy cold, it didn’t bother me much but I was done anyway so I turned off the shower. I got out and proceeded to dry myself with what could possibly be the nicest towel ever. After I was nice and dry I pulled on the boxer briefs and used the deodorant, I was going to brush my teeth but decided to wait, Zayn was bringing food after all I might as well wait till after dinner.

I sat on the toilet and took a deep breath and closed my eyes, I felt better than I had in fuck knows how long…but I couldn’t stay here and play this fucking game of his, I couldn’t and wouldn’t. Who’s to say I could gain their trust? No, the safest thing to do is waiting, finding an opportunity to escape, and then getting as far away from here as humanly possible…I know though this isn’t happening tonight. But tomorrow…Harry’s going to give me a tour of ‘Fort Hope’ tomorrow…I can get the layout, make a plan, figure out guard schedules and find out how to get the fuck out of here. I just needed to be patient…but not too patient, I only had a week, a week to get out of here…and I’ll only have one shot, if they catch me trying to escape I have no doubts in my mind that Zayn wouldn’t hesitate to gun me down where I stood.

I shivered, the memory of those dead, angry, dark, ruthless eyes suddenly came into my head…no, he wouldn’t hesitate, I had a feeling he’s done some truly terrible things since the end of the world started. Suddenly there was a knock on the door and I was pulled out of my thoughts.

“Foods here, hurry unless you want cold food.” Zayn said through the door. I pulled on the shirt and pants, which to my surprised actually fit pretty well (though the pants were a bit tight but I digress). I walked out and couldn’t believe my eyes. Sitting on the table was a small plastic tray, and on it was a small wooden bowl filled with soup and a piece of bread. Zayn was already seated and spooning his soup.

“How…how do you have…bread? And…soup?” He looked up at me surprised.

“The kitchen, duh.”

“You guys have a kitchen?!”

“Well…ya, really not that surprising.” He said, looking a bit annoyed. I sat down and picked up my spoon and took a cautionary sip, it was warm…and possibly the most delicious soup I’ve ever had.

“Oh.” I said, dropping the spoon in the bowl. He looked up from his soup.

“You ok?”

“I…I…its just…It’s been so long since I…” He gave me a sympathetic nod.

“Ya, I get you…well dig in, I would have brought more food but…you said it’s been a while since you’ve had food so we need to start you off slow instead of having you pig out otherwise you’re just gonna make yourself sick.” I started downing the soup like my life depended on it, oh god it even had cut up veggies in it…no meat but that was ok, it was still fantastic none the less. I heard Zayn laughing at me but I ignored him. The soup was really hot and burned my mouth a bit but the warm felt so fucking good going down my throat that I just powered through any pain. I started to dip the bread in the soup as well and that was gone in a minute flat. Finally I finished the soup, my plate empty, and I felt fuller than I had in god knows how long.

“Damn kid, you should learn to savor your food.” He said. I blushed, suddenly feeling embarrassed.

“S-sorry…”

“Don’t be, I don’t have room to judge. First time I had Niall and Harry’s cooking I pretty much had the same reaction…speaking of Harry…” He reached in his pocket and pushed something across the table to me; it was one of those mints you get at the end of really fancy meals.

“Harry insisted I give this to you after you finished, he gave me one too…a present for deciding to let you live...though I don’t know why he was so surprised, anyone with a brain knows I wouldn’t risk his wraith.” He chuckled, slurping down the rest of his soup and picking at his bread.

“You and Harry are close?” I found myself asking. He smiled.

“He’s my brother.” My eyes widened and he laughed.

“Not literally, we met a few years ago after all this started; it was just him and I for about 2 months, traveling alone before we came across another group, Louis and Cher. We all decided to travel together and during that time, Louis and Harry hooked up and have been together ever since…they didn’t trust us at first but Harry has this way of making people trust him, I’m sure you’ve noticed.” I nodded; I couldn’t deny that it was true.

“Then we found this place. After we cleared it out, we decided we had found a home. We met Niall not soon after and soon enough we met others and, well, now we’re a pretty big community. We have whole families living here now man; moms and cousins and sisters and brothers and fathers and sons and daughters. When we got to around 40 something people we decided we needed some sort of order and rules, so we formed the council. We were going to hold votes but it was unanimous that the people who founded this place should run this place. I know it sounds crazy considering we are all in our 20’s and we have more authority than people much older than us…but everyone respects us, they are grateful for what we’ve given them, and we don’t exactly abuse our power.”

“It sounds like things have been sunshine and rainbows for you.” He stared and me and gave a very bitter laugh, his eyes got dark.

“No, no nothing like that. I can’t deny we’ve had good spells, went about a year and a half without losing anyone to flesh eaters…but we have lost people. You’ll see the graveyard tomorrow I’m sure…ask Harry about it, I don’t like talking about it.” He stood and stretched.

“Well, eat your chocolate then brush your teeth and go to bed, I imagine you’re tired. Sleep in if you wish. Harry will come get you at some point though…oh and don’t give Harry trouble, he’s pretty much your supervisor tomorrow and if I hear you gave him any sort of trouble…well…you’ll regret it. Hurting Harry is something I take personally.” I stood and stretched.

“And I feel I should warn you now…Louis, Niall, Cher, a couple others and I are going out and probably going to be gone all day. We’re going to get more of the food moved out of the grocery store…but don’t think that gives you an opportunity to cause trouble, everyone in this community knows how to kill.”

“Message received.” I said.

“If you don’t mind my asking…if you guys have been here for so long, why haven’t you just gotten all of the food out of the grocery store by now?”

“Well for a good while we weren’t even able to get at it…you came at a good time, the town used to be completely overrun but we finally widdled them down, and have only recently started on grocery store…as you can imagine some of the stuff was rotten and expired so no meat or milk but canned stuff and some of the unopened stuff is still good. And the reason not all of it is up here is…well…honestly not enough room. We don’t have the refrigerators or the shelf space for all of the stuff in there…I mean you saw it, it’s a huge grocery store.”

“You aren’t worried about others taking from it?” He laughed.

“We have it claimed, no one is going to take from it.”

“Claimed?”

“I’ll explain another time, eat your chocolate and brush your teeth.” He said.

“I’m saving my chocolate if that’s alright with you.”

“Hey, it’s yours do what you want with it.” I stood up, turned, and walked into the bathroom and quickly brushed my teeth, there was blood but I wasn’t surprised, it had been a while and at least I didn’t seem to have gingivitis or cavities or anything. I walked back into the room…only to see Zayn in bed, shirtless and possibly pant less.

“Um…” I started, he stared at me.

“What?”

“I thought the bed was mine.”

“You’ve seen how big this bed is right? It’s fucking massive. I keep to my side and you keep to yours, it’s practically like having your own bed.” I just shook my head and was about to strip when the feeling of self consciousness hit me.

“What’s wrong now?” He said, an annoyed look on his face.

“I…prefer to sleep in my underwear.”

“Ok?” He said. I frowned.

“Just…don’t look please.” He groaned loudly then put an arm over his eyes.

“Hurry up, you have 10 seconds.” I quickly stripped down to my boxers then crawled into the bed, covering myself quickly. He lowered his arm.

“Comfy?”

“Ya…”

“Good, now turn off the lamp and go to bed.” I frowned; he wasn’t going to lock me back up?

“Um…”

“Jesus fucking Christ mate what!?” He sat up, showing off his naked torso…he had nice muscles, I blushed.

“I just…don’t understand why you aren’t locking me back up.” He had an annoyed look on his face.

“I would if I thought you had any sort of chance at killing me…which you don’t, so shut up.” He laid back down.

“Now turn the damn light off!”

“S-sorry.” I said, quickly flipping the switch and sending the room into complete and utter darkness. Maybe this was why he wasn’t worried? Besides the light on the keycard slider the room was completely black…this was a bit of an issue for me.

You’d think someone who has survived the shit I’ve survived wouldn’t fear much…but I did have one, insane, irrational fear.

I was absolutely terrified of the dark

I started to shiver, suddenly acutely aware of every single damn noise in the room. A creek, I jumped about a foot. Calm down Liam it’s just a creek, probably the wind. I pulled the comforter completely over myself and closed my eyes, trying my best to just fall asleep and ignore the odd noise, instead trying to focus on other things, like the sound of my heart beating a mile a minute in my chest, or the sound of Zayn’s soft breathing just 2 feet away.

“Are you ok?” A voice suddenly said, making me jump about a foot. A light turned on on Zayn’s side of the bed and I felt relief wash over me.

“Seriously? What’s wrong, I could fucking feel you like…shaking and you were breathing really heavy…and you had the covers over you.”

“I-I’m fine, I just…” He frowned and glared at me.

“Are you…afraid of the dark?”

“N-no!” I stuttered, he knew I was lying.

“Jesus kid how old are you, 5?”

“I can’t help it alright?! Ever since I was little I just…I don’t know ok? I just can’t help it, it terrifies me.” He stared blankly at me for a second before sighing and standing up. I blushed as I saw he was only in boxers like me. He reached into the small side table and walked around the bed, something in his hand. He walked right up to my side of the bed and held out…a teddy bear. I stared at him in confusion.

“Ummm…”

“Just take it kid, hold him when it gets dark…it helps.” I continued to stare and he huffed in frustration.

“Take him before I change my mind!”

“O-ok.” I grabbed the bear, he was way softer than I imagined. I held him close to me, feeling embarrassed. He stood there for a second and stared at the bear. We sat there awkwardly for about a minute before he grumbled something to himself and walked back around to his side of the bed.

“Night.” He said, flipping off the light. The darkness was still terrifying…but the bear I was holding against me was surprisingly comforting. I focused on it, the soft fur and the wonder of why Zayn would have such a thing. I got so lost in thought that I finally fell asleep.

**Zayn**

I woke up to Harry softly rubbing my shoulder, the windows to the outside opened and the lamp next to my bed on.

“Hey, you wanted an early wake up.” He said, giving me a bigger smile than usual.

“Why are you so cheery?” I asked, standing up and giving a big stretch.

“I just saw the most adorable thing ever.” He whispered, his smile getting even wider. He pointed and I followed his finger. The cover had fallen below his naval, the teddy bear still in his arms. He was on his side facing us, his mouth open and softly snoring.

“Zayn…” I turned; Harry had a serious look on his face.

“Why did you give him the bear?” I sighed and rubbed the back of my head.

“He’s scared of the dark, wouldn’t stop shaking last night, so I gave him something to help calm him down.”

“But Zayn...you gave him _that_ bear.”

“He was scared, I helped him.” He frowned.

“Zayn last time someone other than you touched that bear was Nick, and you broke his nose.”

“I know.” I said, pulling on my pants.

“What’s going on with you Zayn?” He gave me an odd look I didn’t have a word for other than the ‘Harry’ look.

“He was scared, I helped him.” I said, glaring at him. I pulled on a long sleeve shirt and let out a long sigh.

“Steak dinner?” I asked. He snorted.

“Wouldn’t that be nice.” He smiled and kissed my cheek.

“Be safe today Z.”

“Of course love.” I said, walking towards the door.

“And watch Louis please.” He said his eyes showing worry.

“Of course.” I was about to leave, about to close the door, when I turned and stared at Harry, who was walking around to wake up Liam.

“Hey Harry.” I said. He turned.

“Ya?”

“Let him sleep in…he needs it.” Harry gave me a wicked grin, but I ignored it and closed the door.

**Liam**

“Hey, hey Liam wake up.” I jumped up, my arms already in front of me ready to attack. Harry suddenly laughed.

“Whoa whoa easy Li…”

“W-hat?” I said, looking left and right, trying to remember where I was.

“What’s...oh.”

“Not used to being woken up by a friendly face are you?” He said, giving me a weak but endearing smile.

“Not…no, no I’m not.” I said, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

“How long have I been out?”

“Well dunno Zayn wanted me to let you sleep in for a bit longer…it’s just about midday I think.”

“So…a while then.” I said, feeling embarrassed.

“I’m sorry…” He laughed.

“Don’t worry, Zayn wanted you to sleep in, I’ve just been catching up on some reading to kill the time anyway.” He held up a book without a cover on it so I didn’t know what it was. He put it down and stood and stretched.

“Right! So! You get dressed then we’ll go grab a bit to eat then I’ll take you on a tour of the place, give you a little back story and all that.” I quickly pulled on the clothing I was given yesterday and walked to the door.

“Um…” I stopped and turned, Harry had an embarrassed look on his face.

“Harry?”

“Well…you see…ah this is awkward…” He pulled out a pair of handcuffs….and I knew exactly where this was going.

“Oh come on.”

“I’m sorry, it was the only way I could get them to agree to let you out of this room…I mean if you want to just stay in here all day I understand but if you want to leave, at least for now, you have to wear these.

“I…can I at least wear them in front of me?” I huffed. He smiled.

“That’ll be fine.”

This isn’t good, with Zayn and those others gone I had no doubt I could figure out a way to get the fuck out of here…but this would be a challenge. If I could just get him to show me the weapon cache, something I had no doubt they had. But ya, these handcuffs would be a problem.

Eh, I’ve gotten out of worse; all I needed was my katana and my knife

I watched him pocket the key to the handcuffs; I was going to need those to escape, needed to remember which pocket…my uncle didn’t just teach me to lockpick, he taught me to steal as well…wait, lockpick.

“Oh uh I need to use the restroom, that ok?”

“Ya, you’re good, I’ll be outside.” I smiled, god he was naïve, way too trusting…he was sweet, but too trusting, I bet he gets yelled at a lot for it. I walked into the bathroom and took an actual wizz and washed my hands before walking out, I was alone. I quickly walked over to the nightstand and grabbed the bobby pin. I hid it in my shirt pocket before walking outside. I was blinded for a second, while blinded I felt the cold metal clap on my wrists, they were uncomfortable but I didn’t fight it.

“Sorry again.” He said, frowning.

“I understand, you can stop apologizing.” I said, giving him a weak smile.

“Ya, right! So! Let’s get you something to eat, I bet you’re starved…” As we walked down the gravel road, I noticed all the stares I was getting. Kids stopped playing and stared at me, those women from yesterday who were doing laundry were now sitting on rocking chairs watching the children under a canopy set up over the door to what I presumed was there cabin. They both turned and gave me ugly glares as we walked by.

“I certainly don’t seem liked.” I chuckled.

“Can’t blame them…news travels fast around here, as you can imagine…they heard about Zayn.”

“You don’t seem to mind.” He let out a loud, heartwarming laugh.

“I believed you when you said you just wanted the car…I don’t mind because if I was in a similar position I probably would have done the same thing.” He stopped and put a hand on my chest. I flinched at the contact and he quickly backed off, we were just outside a cabin.

“You got to understand something, we aren’t a small group but we are fiercely protective of our own…people don’t take you holding a knife against one of our own lightly, especially Zayn…”

“What’s so special about Zayn?” I said, frowning. He laughed.

“Zayn…well, Zayn is Zayn.” I frowned, there was definitely more to Zayn than Harry was letting on, but I suppose it doesn’t matter, I’d be away from him soon enough.

“Well, we’re here.” He said, smiling. He held the door open for me…and immediately I was greeted by the smell of heaven. The room smelled like various spices and herbs. The place was small, but it was packed with a very large fridge, a counter with a stove, a tabletop, and shelves filled with a variety of foods, there was a door leading somewhere I presumed held more food.

“This is where we keep the food, and cook it.” Harry said, smiling.

“Ah! Is this him now?” A girl with a short choppy mop of blond hair said.

“Perrie, Perrie Edwards. I helped this bleeding sod clean you up when you got here.”

“Nice to meet you.” I said, not offering my hand.

“What’s with the handcuffs?”

“If I wanted to let him get some fresh air he has to wear handcuffs…orders from the top.” He said, making both of them laugh, some kind of inside joke I suppose.

“I suppose, boys hungry? Just missed lunch but I can whip something up, bet your bloody starving.”

“A bit, I don’t want to eat too fast…it’s been a while.”  I said, laughing a bit nervously. She frowned.

“Well that just won’t do.” She got to work cooking up left over soup from last night and more bread.

“How are you powering all of this?” I asked. He laughed.

“You didn’t notice the solar panels?” I stared wide eyed.

“S-olar power? How the hell…”

“It was this sods idea, mostly.” Perrie chuckled.

“He and Cher are a couple of smart ones, though he doesn’t really show it most of the time.”

“Oh bugger off Edwards.” He mumbled.

“That’s impressive, really it is.” I said, and I meant it too.

“We also have a couple generators, if the solar panels fail for whatever reasons we’ll still have power for a good week or 2.”

“I’m…really impressed.”

“Yup, 2 years of hard work and sweat and blood and tears.” Perrie said, smiling sadly.

“There are a lot of us now, but it…we lost a lot of people to get what we have, and it’s the best we’ll ever have, especially during the end of the world.” I finished my food in silence, feeling very uncomfortable.

“Well thanks for the food Edwards.”

“No problem.” She said, smiling.

“Enjoy the tour Li Li.” She called as we left. I frowned; Harry and she already have nicknames for me…like they expect me to be around, that’s a silly thought.

“So, I suppose you’ll want to see the most obvious part of our little community eh?” He was beaming, like a proud parent or something.

“Suppose, if I knew what you meant.”

“The wall, duh! C’mon!” He gestured for me to follow; I did all the while ignoring the stares I was getting. He led me to the front of the fort, a large metal gate was connected to solid stone, it looked like it had all been here for years.

“The wall is about 30 feet high. Its 6 feet wide of solid stone, even if a hundred walkers were all pushing against the wall at the same time, it wouldn’t even budge. The gate is solid titanium so…as you can imagine, it won’t go down easy.” He led me to a set of stairs carved into the wall. We walked up and on top was a walkway with stone railings, two people stood on front.

“H-Harry!” One of them said, a boy with brown skin and a wide smile.

“Davis, Eleanor.” I recognized the second as the girl from earlier, the one who had a gun on me.

“Harry, sir, is it wise to have…” Eleanor started.

“Oh its fine Elle, if he survived the jump down he’d be free to leave!” He said, laughing. He patted me on the back and I chuckled nervously, I wanted to escape but I really wasn’t tempted to try something that drastic.

“I might just hold you to that.” I said with a smile. Harry grinned.

“But anyway, feel free to look down.” I leaned over and was surprised to find 5 flesh eaters walking around.

“Shouldn’t you take care of those?” I said, surprised. Harry smiled.

“Ah they aren’t hurting anything, and sides, the dead smell actually help to mask the, well, alive smell, and the food smell.”

“Ah I see, clever.” I said, looking past. Outside the gate was a plain road leading out into a small forest infested with trees…it was perfect, if I could just reach those trees I would be home free, I could disappear among the trees. I looked to my left…and was a bit stunned at what I saw. I quickly walked across the walkway and looked over the edge. The Fort was very close to a cliff. There was a large clearing but it was blocked off by various rocks, the only way into the clearing was to jump over. The cliff was about a football field away from the wall, it led into what looked like a valley.

“I...didn’t realize we were so near a cliff.” I said, amazed. Harry just laughed.

“It’s perfect actually, the way the forest, wall, and cliff are set up…well, if someone wanted to attack this place, the only real way would be the front entrance, it makes it a hell of a lot easier to protect this place.”

“How big is this place?”

“Big.” He said with a laugh.

 I turned and I could see the whole village from here. There was the big round cabin I was in, smack dab in the center. There were cabins behind there; everything was split into 4 sections with the circle cabin right in the middle. Each section had about 6 cabins each, all regular wooden cabins, all about 5 feet from each other.

“Amazing isn’t it?” Harry chuckled next to me, probably noticing my dumbfounded look.

“It took forever to clean this place up, get rid of the dead, clear out the dust and the leaves and just…everything, it took hard work but we made it happen, and honestly we’re as happy as you can be in the apocalypse.”

“I can see why people would attack you…something like this, in this kind of world…its…well…”

“Too good to pass up…” Harry had a distant look in his eye.

“The first time we got attack it wasn’t so bad, just a group of about 10 people, all had guns…we had about 60 then, we tried to end it peacefully but, well, they were desperate and on their last ropes…we ended them quickly enough.” He suddenly seemed to get a chill.

“The second time we got attack that…that was…” He shook his head.

“It ended in our favor but it didn’t end well, let’s just put it at that.”

“I take it you lost some people.” I said, frowning. He laughed, it sounded bitter.

“Ya…you could say that.”

“If you don’t mind my asking…what did you do with the…bodies?” He chuckled.

“Put a bullet in their brains and to avoid making ourselves known, we took them all out and threw them over the cliff…we do the same with our own, though we make a bit of a ceremony out of it…it saves the trouble of trying to make room for graves they…they would take up too much room.”

“I…gotcha.” I said, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. We were both quiet, I frowned a bit and eyed the guards. Eleanor would be a problem; she seemed competent and knew what she was doing. Davis on the other handed I could already tell wouldn’t be a problem, just by looking at him I could tell he was a bumbling idiot, though looks could be deceiving so I wouldn’t take chances.

“So, continue the tour?” I said, pulling Harry out of whatever memory he was in.

“Oh! Ya! Let’s do that!” He suddenly was smiling again and led me back down the stairs.

“Alright, now most of the buildings are just houses, but next to the kitchen/Perrie’s place we have…” He swiped the keycard and pushed open the door.

“The Armory.” I walked in…and it took me a second to register, holy fucking shit. The place looked like all the other cabins, except this one was lined to the brim with weapons. On one wall were a variety of shotguns and handguns, all locked behind cases. On the other wall a mixture of hand weapons. Knives, a metal and wooden baseball bats, a giant ass wrench for Christ sake. Along another wall were grenades, flash bang, smoke, tear gas. Then there were a variety of other weapons, machine guns, sub machine guns, shotguns, rifles, and so many weapons my head almost felt like it would explode.

“What…how…” I was in complete awe; I never expected them to have so many guns…and was that an RPG?

“Impressive right? We got most of these from an old police station in town, confiscated stuff, shit tons of ammo for it all too, but don’t ask were we got the RPG from…that’s a story only Niall can tell you properly. The rest we got from houses, the…people from before, and the gun store in town…raided that place clean let me tell you, I doubt you’d find a single shotgun shell left in that place. I noticed a medium sized safe in the corner.

“What’s that?”

“Oh the safe? Dunno to be honest, we grabbed it from the gun store, found it hidden away in a closet, no clue what is inside, we haven’t been able to get it open despite a good year of trying, we finally just gave up though.” I laughed internally, I could easily open that safe (it was a simple turn dial lock after all), another useful trick I learned from my uncle…but should I tell Harry? No, better keep that information to myself. I looked around the room…until I found them, sitting on top of a glass case full of handguns.

My katana, my combat knife, and my backpack

“Is that…” I pointed, Harry followed my finger.

“Oh ya, you didn’t think we’d leave something that wicked in town did you?” He started walking over to it, I quickly pulled the bobby pin out of my shirt pocket and quietly began working on the handcuffs, now or never I suppose, and I had to go before those others got back. Harry started prattling on about the katana, not knowing anything about it, every word he spoke pissing me off because he didn’t know anything about it, didn’t know what that sword and I have been through, the things we’ve done together, the blood its drank. I felt the click, I then quietly walked over to the shelf and began picking the lock on one of the cases, it had handguns in it. I heard it click, my body tensed, he could stop talking and turn at any minute. I pulled out the first gun in the case, a small silver revolver (not my taste but I don’t have room to complain) and quickly checked it, those idiots! It was already loaded! I turned…and that’s when it happened.

It was a complete accident really, I didn’t expect the handcuffs to just fall off the case like they did, and I didn’t expect them to be so loud when they fell onto the floor. He suddenly stopped talking, the room became tense, oh god. I watched his hand wrap around the katana, oh hell no; no one uses my sword but me. I pocketed the bobby pin and raised the revolver.

“I have a gun Harry; we both know which one of us is going to win this…just…turn around slowly and toss me the sword.” He turned slowly. The guilt I felt surprised me, it tripled when I saw his look of absolute betrayal.

“I trusted you.” He said, sounding so sad.

“Harry you…you have to see where I’m coming from here. You all gave me a god damn week to earn the trust of 3 people who want me dead, no one here likes me Harry, you all basically gave me a week to live before you fucking kill me, and I die on my terms Harry, that’s what I promised her…I…” Memories swelled into being, tears suddenly escaped my eyes, oh fuck me, of all times. I quickly pushed them away, ignoring his shocked look.

“Toss me Edge, now.”

“Edge?”

“The sword, toss me her, NOW!” I snapped. He kept it sheathed and tossed it to me, I caught it in my left hand and wrapped it around my upper body, I could easily pull it now with my right hand over my right shoulder.

“Now put the knife in the backpack, zip it up, toss it to me.” He did as I asked; I put it over my shoulders and over the katana, still easily accessible.

“Surprised you don’t fill it with guns.” Harry said. I laughed.

“Honestly? I hate guns, too loud, too…inefficient.” I gestured for the door.

“Now Harry, get me out into that forest and you’ll never have to deal with me again.”

“You know the second they see you holding a gun to me they won’t hesitate to gun you down.” I chuckled.

“2 guards? One of them is an idiot Harry so I guess I should say 1 guard, and I can take her down easy enough.”

“You’re going to shoot your way out?!” He said, stunned. I shook my head.

“No Harry, god dammit all I want to do is fucking leave. I don’t fucking understand what’s so hard to grasp about that. I made a mistake; you capture me and give me a week to live in response. Now I just want to leave and never deal with you bloody sods again.  I didn’t lie Harry, I’ve lived alone for a very long time and I want it to stay that way I just…want to be left alone.”

“Listen Li Li…”

“IT’S LIAM GOD DAMMIT!!!!” I snarled, he flinched.

“L-Liam…we can just forget this happened, I won’t say a word, I will make sure they don’t kill you…you can live with us Liam, no more running, no more having to watch your back every god damn day because there is no one to watch it for you. Liam we can offer you a life here…out there, alone? You won’t make it, one day you’ll fuck up and there will be no one to save you, you will die, alone.” I laughed.

“I already know Harry, I already know…now get me out of here or…”

“GET THE GATES OPEN!!!” I heard someone yell outside. There was screaming, and someone ringing some kind of bell.

“What is that?! What’s happening?!” I said, Harry looked suddenly terrified.

“Oh no, Zayn and the others must be back…and they brought friends.”

“What?!?” Harry ran out the door, I followed. We ran for a good minute before reaching the entrance…and what I saw shocked me. The front gate was open; a large truck smeared in blood was parked just a few feet away, I saw Zayn and some others guns out shooting out the gate…at a literal horde of flesh walkers.

There had to be at least 60 or 70 of them, probably more. They were going down quick enough but they kept coming, and from what I could tell the group of 7 people firing at them were losing bullets fast.

“SOMEONE GET THE AMMO NOW!!” I heard Zayn snarl, I watched Niall run past us, so distracted by what was happening that he didn’t even seem to noticed Harry and I. I watched in stunned silence as one of the people, a girl, stopped firing and yelled something, she was out of ammo. I watched the horde thin, now only like 20 walkers…but they all stopped firing, all of them were out.

“FUCK!” Louis yelled. I heard screaming, people were running away, I saw the walkers slowly stumbling over the pile of the dead, it was slowing them but once they got in they’d spread out. I stared, this was my chance. Let the walkers in, they’d be so distracted by that that I could simply walk out the front door and run for it, it would be so easy, so god damn easy…

But I saw a walker get through, going for a child clutching onto a dog for dear life as he stood frozen, unable to move. No one would get there in time, I heard Harry cry out, I saw the girl from earlier running, and she was going to bludgeon it to death but wouldn’t reach in time.

God damn me

“Harry, remember you owe me.” I said, he turned.

“What?!” I aimed, fired, the walkers head exploded.  I walked forward, firing slowly, each shot finding its target, a head.

“Who gave him a gun!?!?” Someone yelled but it was starting, everything was starting to turn red, to blur, I was losing control again. The gun was empty; I threw it away and strode past the truck and the people, all staring at me stunned. I pulled out my sword, Edge was hungry and it was time to feed her. I suddenly was sprinting, I think I yelled but I’m not sure. I ran past the kid, going straight for the gate, there were 14 left…not enough but enough to sate Edge for now. I twisted my arm, the sword just an extension of it. I watched the walkers head pop off and fall, another, then another. They were all turning on me, I moved quickly, silently, lost in my dance of death. My vision was red now, I felt wet with blood. I swung, it felt so effortless. I watched body after body fall to my blade, my girl, my Edge.

I started laughing, I remember that much, I remember laughing, oh god it felt good! It had been too long since Edge had had a proper meal, this felt like, like…an old friends embrace. I could hear the swoosh of the blade as it cut the air to reach its target, to me it sounded like she was laughing. I felt the vision fading, someone yelled something, my vision was normal. I twisted my head, my body covered in blood. I saw faces, so many of them staring, stunned, stunned…except for one.

Zayn showed nothing, no emotion, he just stared at me

A giggle escaped my lips, another, then a laugh, another, another, I couldn’t stop, stomach started to hurt from laughing so hard. I finally stopped and the smile turned into a frown. I couldn’t run now, I noticed about 5 different guns trained on me, ready to strike me down…I should have ran, damn my kind nature, I should have said fuck the kid. I felt exhaustion suddenly wash over me, damn it really had been too long, and I was too malnourished and skinny to pull something like that off. I looked down at myself; I was covered in blood and felt disgusting. I wiped the sword off on an untouched part of my pants, until it was clean. I sheathed it and took a few steps forward, walking back inside. I heard guns cock, rifles and pistols raised. I ignored them and walked right up to him, right up to Zayn. I pulled the backpack off and dropped it, I pulled the sheathed Edge off of my back and held it out to Louis, who was standing next to Zayn and still looking completely stunned.

“You’re welcome.” I chuckled, staring into Zayn’s eyes. I felt my vision blacken and my body gave out on me, I fell right into Zayn’s waiting arms.

**Zayn**

“What in the holy fucking hell was that?!” Louis cursed, staring at the unconscious boy in my arms. That was a question no one seemed able to answer.

“Is he a demon?” Someone said, I let out a sharp laugh at that.

“Don’t be stupid.” I said.

“He’s not a demon…he…” I frowned; I didn’t know what he was.

His strokes had been wild, he had no regards for his own safety…if a walker had even managed to get close to him and bite him…I had no doubt he would have just kept on swinging, he probably wouldn’t have even noticed he was bit. He had lost himself completely to the fight, it was an inhuman display of skill and power, I had a feeling he had killed even more than that by himself.

“Harry.” I said. I kept staring down at him, he could have easily ran, hell I probably wouldn’t have even noticed him slip out the gate, yet…he didn’t, he stayed and saved Marcus and his dogs life, and managed to finish off the last walkers.

“Y-ya Zayn?”

“How did he get weapons?”

“Oh uh I…”

“Hold that thought.” I said, giving him an unhappy glare. I picked up Liam bridal style and held him out to Harry.

“Grab Perrie and clean up Liam, make sure he is completely cleaned.”

“Right Zayn.” Harry looked unhappy, I had a feeling this wouldn’t be a good conversation for anybody. Harry took him out of my arms and I watched him take him away…and people quickly moved away from him. Wow, hatred had turned to fear, everyone was terrified of him.

“Niall!” I yelled.

“Ya boss man.” Niall said, quickly running up to me.

“Organize everyone and make sure all the walkers are dead, and then we need to get rid of the bodies as quickly as possible so we can get the gate closed before nightfall, take as many people as you need.”

“Right boss…though don’t think we need to worry about any of them still being alive, pretty sure buzzcut took care of that.”

“Just hurry Niall.” I growled. He nodded and started barking orders. I turned on Louis and Cher, both looked like they had been through hell, which we had considering the unexpected god damn walker horde that followed us all the way here.

“You two ok?”

“Y-ya just…it’s all been a bit much ya know? I need a shower…ya, a shower, then we can do…council stuff.” Cher said, shaking her head.

“I need you both to go check on everyone first, make sure no one got bit or hurt alright? Take Sophia with you…but before you start take the sword and Liam’s backpack back to the armory, make sure they are locked up, here is my key I want it back.”

“Right mate…” Cher left, still looking dazed, but Louis stayed, staring at me.

“Zayn…”

“Don’t Louis.”

“You saw what he just did Zayn…if we weren’t sure he was dangerous before we most certainly know now…it was like he was fucking possessed, shit I don’t think a bullet to the head would have stopped him…and…and that laughing, it was so…it was like he was having the time of his god damn life Zayn.”

“I know Louis, but you saw what I saw. He could have run, easily, and there wouldn’t have been a damn thing we could have done. All of us were out of bullets, Niall wouldn’t have made it back in time for us to reload, he could have easily ran past them all and disappeared before we even had the chance to think about chasing him. But he stayed…he stayed and we didn’t have to lose anyone today.”

“I…ya, I guess so.” Louis said.

“But that doesn’t change the big question, why the hell did he have his weapons?”

“I don’t know Louis…but I’m sure Harry will have a good explanation for us.”

“He damn well better…” Louis grumbled. I laughed.

“Go, help, once it’s all done go shower up and relax, be with Harry…no meetings tonight, we can deal with all of that tomorrow.”

“Zayn…”

“When he wakes up, I’ll handle it myself.” I said. Louis knew not to question me…this was something I needed to handle alone. I walked off, heading for Perrie’s. I walked in and strode to the back area, into the bathroom. I saw Liam in a bathtub, being rinsed off and looking a lot less bloody.

“Hey, Zayn, privacy here!” Perrie snapped.

“I’m betting Liam wouldn’t like you seeing his stuff mate.” Harry said, scrubbing Liam’s arm with a sponge.

“He doesn’t leave my sight for the rest of the day.” I chuckled, sitting back and leaning against the wall, arms across my chest and letting my face become blank. I ignored Perrie’s angry glare and watched in silence as they cleaned and soaped him up. I pulled out a cigarette and lit up, I knew Perrie wouldn’t mind, she smoked inside herself. He was naked, he had a nice body though I could count his ribs, he needed some more food in him. I let my eye travel lower, was surprised to see any hair down there shaved off, I cringed a bit, bet that must have itched like fuck for the first few days. I then let my eyes move up to his face, he looked peaceful despite what all had happened, the way they’re cleaning him he’ll be nice and ready to go on my bed.

“Huh, didn’t notice this last time we cleaned him.” Harry said. He had Liam pushed forward, was staring at his back.

“What?” I asked.

“Just…look at it.” He said. I walked around, Perrie was also staring. Covering the small of his back was what looked like a large scar.

“It looks…odd.” Harry said, frowning.

“It looks kind of like…”

“Bite marks.” I finished, unable to keep the surprise off of my face.

“You…you don’t think he was bitten do you?” Harry said.

“No, that’s not possible; if a walker had bit him he wouldn’t be alive right now. It must be from something else.” Perrie said.

“What else could make a scar look like that?” Harry argued.

“I…don’t know. Let’s just drop it for now, we can ask him later when he wakes up.” She huffed.

“Eh whatever…” Harry said, letting Liam fall back down. I moved back into my previous position and let my thoughts wander back to what I planned on doing with him.

After what I saw today, I needed to be very careful

Such rage, he was a kid who’d seen and done horrible things. I could handle him though, I know I could. All that strength and anger but no real training or style, well I grew up around swords, dad was a kendo fanatic after all.

“Alright he’s clean…” Perrie said.

“Get him some clothes, I’ll take him back.” I said.

“He saved Marcus’s life.” She said, staring at me. I noticed Harry looking uncomfortable, very unlike him.

“He also had weapons, things he should not have had because someone…” I turned and stared right at him.

“…was supposed to be watching him.”

“I was watching him I just…I gave him the weapons, he said he could help, and you know I’m a shit shot.” He was good at lying, but I could always tell when Harry was lying and right now? He was lying, pretty obviously.

“Sure” I said.

“I believe you Harry.” Perrie said, glaring angrily at me as she left the room. When she left I stared at Harry.

“So what really happened?”

“I…don’t know to be completely honest.” He said. Truth.

“We were on the tour, I showed him the armory, figured not a big deal since pretty much everything is in glass cases anyway….but I turned around for only a second, I hear a clang, grab the sword but he has the handcuffs off and a case open with a gun pointed right at me.”

“How’d he manage that?”

“I’ve got no idea…you think he had a key? That can’t be possible there are only 2 keys, one on Louis…”

“And the other on me.” I finished. I walked over to his clothing and started to check all of the pockets…and that’s when I found the bobby pin.

“Ahhhh.” I said, turning and showing Harry.

“A pin? He managed to pick the locks?” Harry said in disbelief

“He just gets more and more interesting by the minute…” I said with a laugh.

“Zayn…he doesn’t mean any harm, he’s just…scared. You got to look at this whole situation from his perspective. We did sort of kidnap him against his will, and are pretty much forcing him to prove he isn’t going to tell others about this place, or we will kill him…can’t really blame him.” I groaned and rubbed the bridge of my nose.

“Harry, you are…”

“Too trusting, I know…but someone has to be willing to see the good in people…we can’t all be cold and heartless.” He stared right into my eyes as he said that, that stung a little. He cringed, not a good look for him.

“Sorry, that wasn’t meant to sound like I was saying you…” I raised a hand, he shut up.

“No, don’t worry about it…” Perrie walked back in with some clothes.

“We need to go to the clothes store in town…we don’t exactly have a lot.” Perrie said, frowning.

“Ya, it’s on the list of things to do…” I watched silently as they dressed him in silky shorts and a T shirt that was much too large on him.

“He’s nice and clean…” I walked over and kneeled.

“Put him on my back, I can carry him.” They did as I asked; I let his arms fall over my shoulders, his head resting on the back of my neck, my hands planted firmly on his butt.

“Thanks Perrie.”

“I’ll make sure to make something extra special tonight…and Liam gets extra helpings for being a god damn bloody hero.” She growled that last bit out; I chuckled, the cigarette still dangling from my lips.

“Sure sure.” I walked out the front door, ignoring the few stares I got and walked up to my cabin. I held him up with one hand and quickly slid the card and pushed it open. I kicked the door closed behind me, hearing it lock with a small beep. I dropped him on the bed and turned back around. Suddenly my knife was yanked out of its sheathe, my sheathe. I turned slowly. Liam was standing on shaking legs, the knife held out in front of him, a tired and scared look on his face.

“Oh, you got my knife.” I chuckled, smoking the last of the cigarette and putting it out in the ash tray on the table.

“I know how this works.” He said.

“You’re going to kill me now right? I tried to escape, I had weapons, it’s over for me now…but I don’t plan on dying without a fight.” He said, I smiled.

“So your plan is to…what? Kill me; walk out the gate, run away with nothing but a knife and the clothes that don’t even fit you? You don’t even have shoes for fucks sake.”

“SHUT UP!” He snarled.

“I’m not stupid! Stop trying to fuck with me! I’m not gonna die in this fucking place just because you are all a bunch of paranoid agoraphobics! I just want to take my stuff and fucking leave, I don’t have anyone god dammit! I won’t tell people about this place, frankly because I could give two shits about all of you! I was doing fine by myself, I just…I shouldn’t have attacked you alright?!?! I fucked up, and I apologized what more could you possibly want?!”

“I want you.” I said. He froze, his eyes showed surprise.

“You want…what?”

“You.” I repeated, taking a step towards him.

“I don’t…what are you talking about?!” I took advantage of his confusion. I darted forward and grabbed the arm with the knife in one hand and his neck with the other.

“Drop it.” I ordered. He didn’t, defiance still showed in his eyes, I had to admire his spirit if anything. I squeezed his neck hard, he still didn’t let go.

“C'mon Liam don’t make me really hurt you.” I said.

“Fuck you.” He said in a choked voice. Fine, tried to be nice I guess. I let my knee connect with his stomach. He gasped and the knife clattered to the ground. His other arm came at my head, I felt it connect with my temple, it hurt but it wasn’t a strong punch, it just proved to really piss me off. I punched him hard in the stomach, he let out another gasp and I grabbed him by the throat and literally picked him up. I tossed him onto the floor and before he could react I had him pinned.

“Get off of me!!” He snarled. I grabbed both of his wrists and put them above his head, holding them there with one hand while the other hand grabbed his chin, forcing him to look at me.

**Liam**

I was pinned and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do. I struggled but I was too weak, I couldn’t fight him.

“Get off me!” I repeated.

“I could kill you so easily and there would honestly be no consequences. All I’d have to say is you attacked me and poof, any anger towards me is gone. Tomorrow we would just take you out and toss you over the cliff to the graveyard and maybe you would survive the fall and come back as a walker, mindlessly walking around eating flesh and having no soul.” He snarled. That dark part of him was back, the part that was completely cold and completely terrifying. I stopped struggling as tears welled up in my eyes.

“D-don’t…” I whimpered pathetically.

“What, Liam? Don’t what? Kill you? I should for what you did…” he pulled something out of his pocket and held it in front of me, the bobby pin.

“You picked your locks and held a gun to Harry didn’t you?!” He snapped, his grip tightening.

“Y-yes.” I sobbed, tears flowing freely down my cheeks.

“I told you if you mess with Harry I would take it personally. Threatening Harry is threatening me, and that’s twice now you’ve threatened me. I am going to have to punish you somehow…” I felt panic rise in my chest, I didn’t want to imagine the fucked up things he might do to me, I was running out of options and I was running out of time, I had to do something, I had to say something…but I was so scared I couldn’t even move let alone talk.

“I could...cut off a finger? No that’s too messy…” Oh god fucking dammit Liam say something! Say anything for Christ sake!

“Z-Zayn…” I whimpered. He looked back down at me.

“I can…I can…I can…” oh god it was so hard to speak.

“Maybe I’ll just beat you a bit.”He continued.

“I can blow you!” I suddenly said. Dark Zayn disappeared in an instant, complete surprise on his face. The fuck did I just say?!

“You…what?” He said, staring at me.

“I…I don’t…” I couldn’t speak; why the fuck did I say that? Laughter suddenly erupted from his mouth, his grip relaxed and he sat laughing for a good minute before stopping.

“I can’t fucking believe you just said that mate! Jesus Liam I threaten to cut your fucking finger off and you whore yourself, fucking hilarious.” The humor left him and he continued to stare at me. He grabbed my chin and I looked away, feeling completely humiliated.

“Liam, look at me.” He said, his voice emotionless. I couldn’t get myself to, I just felt more tears streak down as an angry sob escaped my lips; fear had turned to shame in a matter of seconds.

“Look at me.” He repeated. I finally did, his eyes showed pity.

“Anything to survive right?” He said. I nodded in response. His hand left my chin and I felt his thumb on my cheeks, wiping away the tears.

“There are two reasons why you get to live another day. The first being that you saved lives today, the second is because I know now you really are alone, you don’t have anyone looking or waiting for you.” I felt sadness hit me like a truck, he got off of me and walked over and picked up the knife, and put it back in the sheathe.

“I’ll go get you dinner...” He turned and left, I curled up in a ball and continued to cry.

**Zayn**

I walked outside. The front gate was closed, the bodies were gone. I could see Niall and a few others cleaning up the blood left on the wall.

“He asleep?” I turned, Cher.

“No, he is out of it though, totally exhausted. Going to go get food now.”

“Good, figured you might do something stupid like kill him.” She said quietly. Memories of what all just happened flashed in my head. I had let my anger get the better of me, that was stupid, I’ve probably scarred the kid for life.

“Course not, you saw what he is capable of…I want him in the army.” I replied after a minute.

“Course you do, you have a good eye for talent.” She said.  I sighed and pulled out a cigarette.

“Ya…” I mumbled. She frowned.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing, bit tired, today didn’t go like I expected.” I said, lighting up and taking a long drag.

“Fucking walkers…they weren’t there before, we had the grocery store cleared out, shit Zayn we had the town cleared out. I don’t understand…”

“Ya we did…” My eyes narrowed as I stared up at the sky. It was clear but on the horizon were clouds, it was probably gonna rain later. Everything was bathed in gold light, the sun was just setting, shadows everywhere.

“You don’t think…it was _them_ do you?” I took another puff and shook my head.

“No I doubt they would do something so cowardly like try to get walkers to kill us.”

“Right, not their style…”

“Not _her_ style.” I corrected. Her eyes narrowed.

“Ya… _her.”_ She shook her head.

“We can talk more later, I’m bushed.”

“Right, have a good sleep.” I chuckled. She laughed.

“You know I never get a good sleep.”

“Cher.” I said as she turned to leave.

“Ya?”

“Changing the rules a bit, we have a week to convince him to stay, if we don’t get him in a week we have to let him go.”

“Ah…that shouldn’t be hard, you are a…very convincing guy Zayn.” She leaned against the railing and stared at my cabin.

“You know we should see if we can get him a cabin, I'm sure it won’t be too hard to find someone who wants to bunk with him…”

“No, he is going to stay here.” I said, taking another drag. She gave me a quizzical look.

“But…why? I thought you liked you privacy.”

“I want to keep him close is all; I need to be able to keep an eye on him.” She laughed.

“It doesn’t have to do with the fact that he is very attractive? Almost more attractive than you and your pretty face Zayn.” I ignored her and took another drag, she smiled.

“Thought so.” She left and I watched her go.

“Bitch.” I said with a hint of humor. I returned to the kitchen, Perrie had made the spaghetti she said she was saving for a special occasion. She gave me a pointed look as she got Liam and I’s dinners. She gave Liam a huge helping and tossed in a chocolate.

“What, no chocolate for me?”

“When you earn it, you can have one.” She said, shooing me away. The walk back was pretty much uneventful, the sun was setting but I could make out Dominic and Riley on the wall, their turn for watch I guess.

“Um…Mr. Zayn?” I turned, and was a little stunned to see Marcus, his dog, and his mother.

“Oh, hi.” I said, surprised.

“Sorry to bother you Zayn.”

“It’s no issue Pam, what’s up?”

“Well we won’t keep you, we were just…wondering if Liam was allowed to see anyone.” She said, I was unable to keep the surprise off my face.

“Well, he’s actually sleeping right now, as you can imagine he is…exhausted.”

“Oh...well Marcus and I were just hoping to thank him and I wanted to let him know I was going to start quilting him a blanket as soon as possible.”

“Oh.” Was all I managed to say.

“He…saved me and Pepper and I just wanted to tell him he is so awesome and that Pepper wants to lick his face!” Marcus said suddenly. I laughed.

“Don’t worry, he needs to rest tonight but he should be up and feeling better tomorrow. I’ll make sure you two can see him, and that Pepper can lick his face.” I said, feeling amused at the thought of getting to see that. Pam chuckled.

“Thank you Zayn, have a good night.”

“You too.” I said, smiling and continuing with my walk. I did feel a bit surprised, I figured after seeing what Liam did everyone would be terrified but I guess gratitude trumped being scared on their part. I got in the cabin and put both bowls on the table and put the cigarette out in the ash tray. I turned on Liam, he was sitting on the floor still, his eyes looked dead and more tears were streaking down his face still.

“Hey…” I knelt in front of him, he looked at me with such anguish that I almost wanted to hug him to try to make him feel better.

“Dinner, c’mon you need food.” I said, holding out my hand. He didn’t grab it but got up on his own and walked quietly over to the table. He sat and slowly started to eat his food, I walked over and joined him. He stared straight at his food, never looking away and still looking sad.

 “Perrie was saving the spaghetti for a special occasion; no one dying seemed like a special occasion I guess.” He didn’t reply, he just kept eating and I stopped trying to talk. Once we were both done, I gave him the chocolate.

“For you, Perrie said you deserve it.” He grabbed it and quietly ate it. Once he was done he stood and walked past me. He got to his side of the bed and suddenly started to strip off his clothes, leaving him in his briefs. He crawled under the covers and hugged the teddy bear to him, then began staring at the wall on his side.

“I’m gonna shower, you should…ya.” I said, I had a feeling it didn’t matter what I said at this point, he looked completely depressed and miserable and I know for a fact it was definitely my fault. I really fucked up now.

**Liam**

He left for the shower. I didn’t pay attention though; my mind was filled with so many images of sadness, so many images of death that I couldn’t get myself to think of anything else. I was remembering, remembering so long ago when the end of the world started and I watched everyone die one by one until soon only I was left, the moron, the failure, the one who didn’t deserve to still be alive.

_‘I know now you really are alone, you don’t have anyone looking or waiting for you.’_

I felt the soul crushing sadness in every pore of my body, it was always there but I’ve spent the last few years trying my best to hold it off, to hold off just simply giving up and curling up and dying. But Zayn’s showed me the truth. The hard, brutal truth.

I am nothing

He was right, he could kill me right now and who was to say he couldn’t? No one would question him, he was letting me live only because I saved some fucking kid and because of pity. It was truly cruel of him, not just killing me. It would be a mercy killing at this point. No one will miss me when I’m gone, no one will care. Why have I been trying so hard to live? I even tried to whore myself just because I thought it would give me a chance at living…and for what? I could die tomorrow and no one would give a shit. I heard the tell tale pitter patter of rain on the roof, I hugged the bear closer to me. I saw the bathroom door open, Zayn walked out with nothing but a towel wrapped around his hips. He strode up to me and kneeled in front of my face.

“You like the bear?” He asked. I said nothing. I didn’t want to talk to him; frankly I didn’t want to talk at all. He suddenly put a hand on the side of my head, letting the tips of his fingers massage the back of my head. It felt nice, but it didn’t do much to quell the soul crushing sadness I felt inside.

“Liam…I don’t apologize often but I have to apologize now. I was…really rough on you, I let my anger take control and I hurt you and said some truly awful things and I apologize.” I didn’t say anything, I just stared at him.

“I also wanted to let you know that at the end of the week, if you want, you can leave, all your stuff returned and even a little bit of food.” I stared; it really didn’t matter anymore anyway. All that means is that I get to leave just to go find a place in town to sit in and kill myself in.

“But…if you want, you can also stay here, with us. Live with us; help us keep this place safe and strong…” I just ignored him, like I would stay here.

“You sleep on it, tomorrow we are going to take you into town and get you some more clothes, we’ve needed to go for a while anyway…” He stopped rubbing and stared.

“Give me something so I know all of that registered.” I just nodded, he nodded back.

“Alright…” He walked over to his dresser and grab a pair of boxers before walking around to his side of bed. I heard a bit of rustling and suddenly the room was in pitch black.

“Goodnight.” He said. I lay there, frozen as I kept thinking about the past, about death, about how I had no one. I felt the tears well up in my eyes again and I quietly sobbed to myself, trying to be quiet so I wouldn’t risk Zayn’s wrath again. I felt movement on the bed, the movement was getting stronger and stronger until I was shocked to feel my pillow being replaced by smooth warm skin. He put an arm around my stomach and pulled me closer to him. After a minute he was pressed up against my back, an arm around me and an arm under my head, he made a nice pillow.

“Z-Zayn…?” I was confused; I had to ask why he was doing this.

“Just sleep.” He said. He pressed his forehead against the back of my head for a minute and repeated himself. I cried harder and he just held me tighter until at some point exhaustion took over and I succumbed to sleep, Zayns arm providing me comfort in the dark.


	2. Brother

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took a bit, glad to know everyone seems so enthusiastic about the story though! :] Anyway hope you enjoy! Will try to be quicker about the next chapter!

“What do you want to do?” I asked, eyeing her out of the corner of my eye.

“Um…dunno, suppose we should keep moving.” She replied, giving me a small smile.

“Smiling? I swear I haven’t seen that in forever.” I chuckled.

“Oh shut up Zayn!” She said; give me a hard swift punch to the shoulder.

“Ow! Dammit Doniya that hurts! You are such a man…” She stood and stretched.

“Ya, you always underestimate how strong I am, it pisses me off.” She said, giving me her famous stink eye.

“I know, it’s a fault of mine…” She kept both hands on the back of her head.

“It really is beautiful though…I’m glad you talked me into coming up here.” I stared down at the city, could see all the cars moving, the lights shining, the sun setting…at least I used to be able to see all of that.

“You’re welcome; I told you the view of the sky up here is to die for…”

“Ya…ya you did.”

“The world ends but the sun always rises, always sets…I wish you could have seen it when the city still lit up, when you could see the cars, the boats moving in the harbor…beautiful.”

“Zayn…what do you think happens when we die? And I don’t mean coming back to life I mean…when we really die, no coming back.” I stared at the setting sun, I didn’t want to lose this sight again, I wanted to remember this.

“I don’t have an answer to that Doniya…but I promise one day when I figure it out I’ll tell you alright?” She looked down and smiled.

“You never keep your promises Zayn, that’s why you never make them remember?” I laughed.

“I’ll try this time alright? I’ll try…”

“Um…excuse me?” I shot up and quickly pulled out my revolver; Doniya turned on the car hood and already had her own handgun out. We both stared at a boy in a pair of skinny jeans, a very loose shirt, and a head of curls that kind of blew my mind.

“Woah! Please I don’t mean any harm…I just haven’t seen another live person in a while…please I don’t have any weapons and I’m alone, you can check me if you want.”

“What do you want?” Doniya said, eyeing the boy. He suddenly smiled and let out a laugh.

“To be honest, I would kill for a piece of Pizza right now if you got it.” I let out a small laugh, unable to help myself because he just said it so innocently.

“Sorry mate, we don’t have any pizza…”

“Aww dammit! Can’t find a piece of pizza anywhere!” he huffed, stomping on the ground.

“Well, sorry for bothering you.” He said, waving. He turned to leave, Doniya looked completely stunned and I couldn’t quite believe it either.

“Wait!” I yelled after him. He turned.

“What?”

“Do you…do you have any food at all? Do you have any weapons, medicine, extra clothes….anything?”

“Not really, I did just find these clothes but it’s been like, 2 days since I had anything to eat.” He said with a frown.

“I just really want some pizza…god I’d punch a hundred walkers in the face for a piece of pizza.”  He rubbed his stomach and I laughed.

“Alright dude, come here we got some food…” His eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas morning.

“W-hat?! Really!? Awesome!” I put my gun away, Doniya did too but she looked down at me concerned.

“Zayn…we really shouldn’t be giving away food.”

“It’s alright Doniya, he seems harmless.”

“Seems being the key word.” She said quietly. I laughed and held out a hand, she took it and stepped off the hood of the car.

“We can’t mistrust everyone Doniya…sometimes we have to give a person a chance.”

“Alright Zayn…I trust you.” She said with a small smile.

“Thanks so much again!” He said, hold out his hand.

“I’m Zayn, this is Doniya.” I said, grabbing his hand.

“And you are?”

“Call me Harry! Harry Styles.” He said with a big, infectious grin.

**Zayn**

**Present day**

I woke up, I felt a hand and something furry pressed up against my chest, a head of shaved hair was just under my chin. I blinked a bit, Liam must have turned sometime in the night so he was facing me. I stared down at him, his breath was slow, and he seemed to have calmed down from last night at least. I needed to move but I was a bit afraid of waking him…what was I saying? Why do I care?

I lifted him, getting my arm out from under his head. I moved away, he didn’t seem to wake. I crawled off of the bed and sat down on the edge, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I shouldn’t have done that; cuddled with him…it was a dumb thing to do. I was letting myself…grow feelings for him. I was attracted to him, that much was obvious to me…and apparently Cher and Harry too but Harry knows me too well and Cher notices everything. I didn’t want anyone else to know I…I was attracted to him, if it ever became public knowledge that I wanted Liam, there was no guarantee that _they_ wouldn’t find out somehow and try to use it against me. I couldn’t let _them_ know I have a weakness named Liam Payne.

Push the feelings away Zayn, they aren’t important right now.

What was important was making sure the horde of walkers that attacked us really was just a random horde of walkers.

I stood up and strode over to my dresser; I pulled on a pair of jeans and a T shirt before striding over to the door. I swiped the card and the door let out a soft beep. I opened it but stopped and turned, he was still asleep. I stared at him for a moment before walking through the door and closing it behind me. It was early morning from what I could tell, the kids weren’t running around yet but the adults were. I waved and said hi as I walked, responding to the ‘morning Zayn’ I got from just about everyone I passed. I reached Harry and Louis’s cabin. I swiped the keycard for their cabin (I had what Niall had called a ‘skeleton keycard’. It let me unlock any cabin I wanted at any time, the only other card like that was in the possession of Harry) and took a step inside…and immediately regretted it.

The two of them were naked, under the covers, going at it like rabbits.

“OY!” Louis snapped.

“Oh shit! Sorry!” I said, immediately turning and leaving the cabin. I closed the door and decided the best course of action would be to wait outside. Harry popped out a moment later, a pair of loose shorts on and a T shirt way too tight and clearly not his.

“What is it Zayn we are kind of…busy.”

“God you two are like a pair of horny teenagers.” I said, annoyed. He just laughed.

“Don’t be jealous because I get more action than you Zee Zee, I’m sure soon enough you’ll be getting more action than me eh?” He nudged me and gave me his trademark grin. I frowned at him.

“Why are you so sure that Liam and I…?”

“Because Zayn, the thirst is real in you, I saw you checking him out when we were washing him yesterday.”

“The thirst is…what does that even mean?” I said, confused.

“Don’t worry about it…anyway what do you need?”

“I need the armory key; Cher still has mine from yesterday she forgot to give it back.”

“Then why don’t you go see her?”

“Because I doubt she is awake and frankly…I don’t want her to know I’m going out.” Harry’s eyes narrowed.

“What? Why?”

“I have to go…light the beacon.” His eyes widened, he looked shocked.

“Z-Zayn, you can’t be serious…”

“I am serious Harry, if it was 10 or 20 walkers yesterday then alright, that’s fine. They probably just wandered into town…but I counted them Harry, there were at least 70 walkers, I need to know if they were a random horde or if…”

“ _They_ brought them here.” Harry said, his eyes showed fear…and sadness.

“Zayn…we’ve had an understanding with them, we have peace…we don’t fuck with them they don’t fuck with us….so many people died Zayn, on both sides.”

“They were right outside the grocery store Harry; of all places the horde could be…they were right in between us and our current food supply. We had the area cleared Harry, true we’ve had 1 or 2 walkers wander in…but 70? I need to make sure…”

“But Zayn…”

“But nothing Harry…don’t worry, nobody is going to be hurt, we are just going to talk.”

“I…alright Zayn, I trust you.” He walked back in and came back out a second later with his key.

“Be careful Zayn.”

“I will…and Harry watch Liam for me, he’s…” Should I tell him about last night? If I could tell anyone about it, it would certainly be Harry…but would he understand? It was a moment of weakness on my part is all, I let my anger take over is all…

“He’s…not doing well.”

“Why, what happened?” Harry asked. I gave him a very brief summary of what happened; Harry gave me an angry look.

“God dammit Zayn…”

“I know, I am going to make things better when I get back but…just watch him, after it all he has gotten…very quiet, and very, very depressed looking…Just watch him.” I repeated. He shook his head.

“I’ll get him out of the cabin, get him some fresh air.”

“Do that, I’ll be back.” I kissed his cheek.

“Be safe.” Harry said. He walked back into the house and I turned and strode over to the armory. I opened the case with the handguns and pulled out a silenced Walther p22. I locked it then unlocked the hand weapons and pulled out the metal baseball bat. I grinned a bit as temptation stuck a finger in me as I saw Liam’s sword propped up next to the giant wrench. I was tempted to take it…but no, it wasn’t needed, didn’t want to accidently fuck it up somehow. I made sure everything was locked then walked out of the armory. I jogged over to one of our vehicles, another truck though this one wasn’t fucked up. The other car was still covered in dried blood and had a few nicks and scratches on it but the windows weren’t cracked and nothing was seriously damaged. It was one of Nialls jobs to take care of the cars (he did use to be a grease monkey at his dads auto body shop after all) so I’m sure he would be cleaning it up today and making sure nothing was seriously wrong.

“Open the gate!” I called. Eleanor looked down from the guard tower.

“Should you be going out alone?” she called.

“It’ll be really quick; I’m only going to be in town for about 5 minutes.” I said. She nodded and opened the hatch that led into a small room built into the wall that had all the controls for the gate in it. Soon the gate opened outwards and I drove through, passing 2 or 3 walkers who were standing outside the wall. I saw the gate close behind me and I drove. The drive takes about 10 minutes give or take. I drove on a dirt road for about half of that before entering in onto the paved road. I dodged a couple cars and soon found myself in town. I drove another minute until I reached the fountain. The fountain was the center of the town, it no longer had water in it but it was covered in wood now instead. I pulled up next to it. A walker was coming right at me as soon as I got out. I casually pulled out the baseball bat and swung, its head crumpled in on itself and the walker fell over. I reached back into the car and pulled out the lighter fluid, a pen, a piece of paper, and a lighter. I pressed the piece of paper against the window and wrote out my message.

_‘The meeting place we agreed on, 2 PM tomorrow, no guns, only you and 2 of your men. Just want to talk.’_

_-Zayn-_

I walked up to the fountain and put the paper in the hands of a small angel on the fountain. I put a rock over it to make sure it didn’t fly away. I started to spread lighter fluid all over the wood in the fountain. I spread until the can was dry then I tossed it into the wood and pressed the lighter against the wood. It spread quickly and soon the smoke was filling the air.

“See ya soon.” I said quietly. I saw a walker stumbling over, attracted to the fire. I bashed its head in and strode quietly to my truck, got in, and drove away.  I arrived back at the fort quickly enough, Elle saw me and soon the gate was back open. I drove in and it closed behind me. I parked the truck and walked back into the armory and dropped the weapons off (after cleaning off the Bat of course) and walked back to my cabin. I was a bit surprised to see Liam sitting outside on the bench in front of my cabin, Harry right next to him. Harry saw me and whispered something to Liam, who looked at him sadly and simply nodded in return. Harry stood up and walked over to me, a deep frown on his face.

“Is it done?”

“Tomorrow at 2…”

“Alright.” He said, rubbing the back of his head.

“Alright so…you really fucked up Liam.” He said, turning back around and looking at Liam, who had his knees pressed up against his chest and his arms wrapped around his legs. He was currently staring at the ground, not moving a muscle.

“He hasn’t said a word since I came over. I walked in and he was just…sitting at the edge of the bed staring at the wall. I got him dressed and asked if he wanted food but he didn’t even respond. I got him to come outside but no matter what I do he won’t talk to me. He just keeps staring at random stuff and looking like he’s about to either start crying or about to go into a depressing monologue about life and death. What you did was bad but…you must have hit a really bad nerve Zayn.”

“Alright, um…” I stared at Liam and rubbed the back of my head.

“Fuck Harry just…fuck I don’t know what to do in this situation.”

“You could start by apologizing…”

“I already did that remember? He didn’t exactly respond to that…”

“You could make out with him, that pretty face of yours? It would pull anyone out of a state of depression. And we all know how thirsty you are for him.” A voice chuckled behind us. I turned on Cher and growled at her.

“Seriously, what the fuck does thirsty mean?”

“Don’t worry about it.” She said, waving her hand.

“But seriously what’s wrong with him?” Harry quickly explained and Cher shook her head.

“I don’t know if I trust him yet Zayn but even I think that was a bit harsh.” She said, eyeing Liam with a sympathetic stare.

“I don’t know what to do…he’s depressed and I don’t even know what he’s depressed about. I told him we weren’t going to kill him but that didn’t even seem to register with him…”

“Hmm…let me try something.” Cher said, walking over to him. We watched her sit down next to him.

“Liam?” She said. He turned and looked at her.

She leaned forward and kissed him

My mouth literally dropped, I felt anger suddenly rise up in me, my hands clinched into fists and I’m pretty sure my blood pressure skyrocketed.

“Um…” Harry looked as stunned as I did. She pulled off of Liam, who looked completely shocked.

“Get over it!” She said happily patting him on the back. She stood and walked back over and smiled.

“Mission accomplished, you’re welcome.” She laughed.

“Oh Zee Zee, you really should see your face, you look like you want to rip someone’s head off…don’t worry, I didn’t use tongue.” She walked off and I just stared after her, I swear to god I will never understand her.

“Um…” Harry and I both turned; Liam had walked up to us, confusion very evident in his eyes.

“Why…why did she…why?” He asked, looking like someone who had just been badly violated.

“I don’t...I can’t really explain, pretty sure she just…does things that only she would understand.” I said, I eyed him, he eyed me back.

“Are we…ok?” He shook his head.

“I’m not…I’m not mad at you Zayn, I’m just...you reminded me how alone I am is all. I should be ok I just…I was in a pretty dark place but I’ll be ok.”

“Her methods are…crazy but she gets the job done.” Harry chuckled next to me. He patted Liam on the back.

“So, you hungry?”

“Ya.” He said with a small smile.

“Well let’s go see Perrie then, I’m famished.” He wrapped an arm around his shoulders and led him away; I watched them go in silence. I should probably get something to eat but I needed to talk to Louis. I’m sure Harry already told him but I needed to discuss tomorrow with him, he probably wasn’t going to be happy I didn’t discuss it with him first but…I digress. I needed to make sure Niall knew too, and Cher. I also had to go back into town for clothes and to…check for a response. I pulled out my pack of cigarettes…and found it empty.

“No cigarettes, great.” I mumbled to myself. This day just kept getting better and better…god I hope it was just a random group of walkers.

**Liam**

Can’t let myself get that bad again…the kiss had helped. It reminded me of one memory in particular, why I was still fighting, why I was…still here, alive…

No Liam, stop thinking about that, it’s not worth the pain it causes you

“So where did Zayn go earlier?” I asked, watching Harry out of the corner of my eye as we walked. His brow furrowed a bit, he lost that easy smile of his.

“Don’t worry about it, he just…had to go check out the town, make sure there wasn’t another horde is all.”

“Oh.” I said quietly. I felt like he was lying but I wasn’t sure why, I didn’t know him well enough yet to be able to pick up on that stuff.

“Well hey boys!” Perrie said, smiling.

“Oy!” Niall said, grinning.

“Payne my man!” He walked over to me and slapped me hard on the back.

“Yesterday man! Blew my mind, best shit I’ve seen in a while, you absolutely slaughtered those flesh eating cocks!” I shifted uncomfortably, I didn’t want to think about that, how I had lost control again, but I just laughed and nodded.

“You are a real hero Liam, honestly. Come, sit, I’m whipping up a bit of oatmeal right now.” Perrie said, gesturing to a chair at the large round table in the middle of her cabin. Pretty much everything in this cabin was in one room, sides the bathroom. I could see a bed pressed up against the wall a few feet away, I watched Perrie dallying away in her kitchen. Niall and Harry sat down across from me.

“So buzzcut, I gotta ask, where did you learn to fight like that?” Niall asked.

“Oh, well…”

“You don’t have to answer any question you don’t feel comfortable answering alright?” Harry said quickly.

“True, don’t mind me I’m nosey is all.” Niall said with a grin.

“No, its fine. Um…I’d have to say my uncle, he loved swords, had a collection but…most of those got lost after things went down, had to pawn the katana to pay the rent before the walkers came. But when all this started I went to the pawn shop and managed to salvage it…it was always my favorite.”

“Edge right?” Niall said. I stared.

“Huh?”

“Edge, you had called the sword Edge, and said it was a she.” He said with a laugh.

“Oh…guess I did, ya the katana is Edge…”

“Did your uncle teach you other things or just sword play?”

“He…” I hesitated; I suppose Zayn already knows I can lockpick, no point in hiding it now.

“He…also taught me lock picking, among other things…”

“Wow, sounds like a cool uncle.” Niall said. I laughed.

“I hated him, I’m glad he’s dead now.” They both stared at me. I just wrapped my arms around myself and looked away, not wanting to meet there gaze.

“It’s…a long story, I’ll tell you guys someday.” I mumbled. I felt uncomfortable thinking about _him._

_About what he did, about…_

“Food!” Perrie called, bringing over 3 bowls of oatmeal. I grabbed my bowl and took a bite, it tasted delicious.

“Only you could make oatmeal taste good!” Niall chuckled, breaking the awkward silence I had caused. Harry still looked at me a bit concerned but he smiled and laughed.

“So Liam, if you don’t mind my asking…” I stopped eating and looked up at Perrie.

“When we were washing you yesterday, you had a really large scar on the lower part of your back. Was just wonder-ing…Liam?” my breathing grew heavy, my eyes widened; I felt my palms start to sweat. They saw… _they saw it_

I stood and quietly turned and walked out, I heard someone yell after me but I ignored it, I kept walking, back to the cabin, back to the bed, that’s what…I had to do, I had to not…not think about..about the scar about…about her…oh god, not her…

“Hey!” I heard someone snap behind me. I twisted my head, someone I didn’t recognize.

“What are you doing out here alone? You are supposed to have someone with you at all times!” I stared.

“S-sorry, I just…I just am…getting back to the…um…cabin…” Couldn’t think straight, memories of that night, memories of her, of what I did…oh god…

“Well let me escort you then.” He said with a cruel grin. He suddenly shoved me, I fell over, why?

“W-hat the hell…?”

“Move!” He growled, giving me a hard kick to the side. What was happening? Why was this happening?

Sophia, where are you?

Why are you biting me Sophia? No, you…you weren’t bitten you…no…no please stop don’t make me…don’t make me…

“Liam! LIAM!!!” I heard in my ear, right in my ear. I suddenly remembered where I was, what had been happening. I was pushed against the back of a cabin, Zayn was holding me there, and he had a hand on the back of my head, our foreheads pressed together.

“Liam, look at me, breathe…” I was sobbing, my hands hurt badly. I grabbed his shirt, my fists tightening, I had to level, keep myself here, don’t lose myself to the memory. Stop thinking about her, push her away, push him away, and push them all away.

“Liam…” I looked at my hands, they were covered in blood. I looked over Zayn’s shoulder, that guy from before was on the ground, covered in blood. He wasn’t making a sound; his face was a giant blood ball. Niall was there, yelling at someone, they picked him up and carried him off.

“What…what did I…”

“You beat the living shit out of him.” Zayn said, still rubbing the back of my head with his finger tips.

“I did?”

“Ya, you did…what set you off?”

“I…I was walking back to the cabin and he yelled at me for something and then he pushed me over and kicked me and yelled and then….” My eyes went blank.

“I don’t remember anything else.” He stared at me in silence.

“We’re leaving, everyone is going to know soon enough what you did, and I need to go back into town and get you clothes anyway. Might be best to get you away for a bit.” I was going to protest (I didn’t think I was in any condition to be going anywhere) but he grabbed my wrist and drug me behind him. He swiped a card and suddenly we were in our cabin.

“Go wash your hands and change shirts, you have blood on it.” He tossed me a shirt and started to go through something in his drawer. I walked into the bathroom and stripped off my shirt. I stared at myself, I had blood on my face, a crazed look in my eye...fuck me I looked insane. I turned on the sink and scrubbed at my hands, god why was blood so hard to get off?! It’s so…so much blood…so much...I scrubbed harder, tears streaking down my face. A pair of hands covered mine; skilled fingers took a cloth and gently rubbed at my hands. I started sobbing angrily, I felt him press my head against his chest. I tumbled onto the ground, onto my butt. He sat down with me and held me against his chest.

“Let it out.” He mumbled.

“Let it out now … you need to pull yourself together, I can’t have you doing this in the middle of a fight, or losing control and beating people to death again…you’re lucky it was just Nick, no one gives a shit about Nick.” I shook my head; I took a deep breath and hugged him closer to me, my face buried in his chest. I’m not sure how long we were there; I just know that at some point I finally managed to stop crying and felt numb, cried out, no more tears in me.

“Done? Then get dressed, we have shit to do.” He mumbled. He helped me up and had me sit down on the toilet.

“Arms.” He commanded. I raised them and I felt a loose black T pulled over me. He helped me up and we started to walk, I followed blindly behind him, not really paying attention to things right now, the only things I could feel were the wind on my face and his hand around my wrist. We were in the armory. I felt my backpack pressed up against my chest.

“Put it on.” He said. I obeyed. He suddenly put Edge in my hand and repeated himself. I elected to simply put it around my waist this time, on the left side. I watched him pull out a baseball bat and tucked a handgun with a silenced attached into a holster on his side. I was a bit stunned to also see him grab out a very large double barrel shotgun and a small satchel, which he filled with a bunch of shotgun shells and two more clips for the handgun.

“Is the town really that dangerous?” I asked. He laughed.

“You have no idea.” He suddenly handed me my own silenced pistol.

“Tuck it in your pants, make sure the shirt keeps it covered…don’t want to let on you have a gun, I’m sure you having your sword back with already throw people into a fit, don’t want to add flames to the fire ya know?” I understood, I quietly tucked the gun into my pants, I felt the cool metal against my butt.

“Alright let’s go and make this quick, no matter what happens out there we stick together and you do exactly what I tell you. I say run you better fucking run, I tell you to fight you fight, I fucking tell you to drop your pants and wave your dick around you do it understood?”

“Got you.” I mumbled. He grabbed my chin and forced me to look into his eyes.

“Stay focused Liam, we might be going into…hell, I need you with me here.” I nodded at him.

“I’ve got you.” He grinned.

“I certainly hope so.” We walked out, not a lot of people were looking at us. But soon enough someone saw us, pointed, and soon it felt like all eyes were on us.

“Ignore them.” He mumbled as we walked. We arrived at a truck; he opened it and gestured for the backpack. I handed it to him and he tossed it in.

“Zayn, what in the fuck are you doing?” A voice growled behind us.

“I already told you my plans for today Louis.” We both turned, Louis looked extremely pissed off.

“Ya, but that was before this psychopath beat the fucking shit out of Nick.”

“He’s not a psychopath.”Zayn growled, tossing in his shotgun.

“He’s a threat.” Louis snapped. Zayn tossed in his satchel.

“He’s not a threat.”

“He’s a ticking fucking time bomb Zayn!” Louis hissed.

“How long before someone accidently shoves him and he starts skinning people alive?” He was whispering, obviously not wanting the people watching to hear.

“Louis…” Zayn walked forward and put a strong hand on Louis’s shoulder.

“Get in the car Liam, Louis and I need to talk privately for a second.” He didn’t turn to look at me, he didn’t need to, his tone reflected his anger well enough. I got in and closed the door; I couldn’t hear what they said. I couldn’t see Zayn’s face but Louis looked upset, angry. Suddenly though his expression changed, and I was a bit stunned to see sadness in his eyes. He shook his head, Zayn nodded and turned. Louis grabbed his wrist and Zayn turned back around.

Now, I can’t read lips very well, but was able to read what Louis said probably because he said it with a look of dead seriousness in his eyes, but what he said confused me to all holy hell.

“It wasn’t your fault.” Yes he could have been talking about the guy I beat the shit out of…but the way Louis looked, I had a feeling he was talking about something very, very different. Zayn turned around, laughed, and said.

“Don’t be stupid Louis, of course it was my fault.” In a loud clear voice. Louis didn’t respond. He simply watched Zayn walk around and get in the car, Zayn said nothing as he started up the car. Louis watched us as we drove. We got to the front gate but it stayed closed. Zayn rolled down his window and yelled for someone I didn’t know to open the gate. A few seconds later the gate lazily swung open. He drove through and I watched the gate close behind us.

I turned to stare at Zayn, he didn’t look at me, his face showed no emotion’s.

“So…what wasn’t your fault?” I asked. He didn’t respond, he just kept staring out the front.

“Who’s Sophia?” He suddenly said.

My blood ran cold

“H-how…do you…know that name?” I said, my voice quivered, my hands were shaking slightly in my lap, I couldn’t stop staring at him.

“When you were beating the shit out of Nick, Niall and I had to stop you. While you were on top of him pounding away at his face, you kept crying and saying ‘I’m so sorry Sophia’ and ‘why Sophia why’ and some other stuff but you kept saying her name, who is she?” I didn’t remember that at all…but I did black out when it happened, I shouldn’t be surprised.

“It’s…she…” I shook my head and closed my eyes, getting control of my breathing.

“I…I can’t talk about her right now, I can’t talk about any of it right now. Just…give me time, and I promise I will tell you about it alright? I…look Zayn I’ve been repressing those memories for a long time, ignoring them. And suddenly these…these memories are being shoved back in my face. I just need some time to…”

“Stop talking Liam. I get it, I really do. When you’re ready to talk you’ll talk, I won’t force you…will it be a problem is my main concern.”

“I…no, that was just…just me fucking up, it won’t happen again.”

“Good.” He said.

“Because no matter how funny it is to see Nick getting the shit beat out of him, I can’t have you doing it again. People already don’t know what to think about you…one minute you hold a knife to my throat, the next you’re going on a murder spree of a bunch of walkers and saving lives, then you go and beat the shit out of someone...if you’re going to stay with us, you need to learn to control yourself.” I didn’t respond, I just looked out the window and watched the trees fly by us.

**Zayn**

**2 Years ago**

“Harry come on!” I yelled, gripping onto Doniya’s hand as tightly as I could.

“I’m hurrying mate I’m hurrying!” He yelled back, his shirt covered in blood.

We were running from walkers, a horde of them, at least 50. We didn’t have the ammo to waste trying to fight them, so running was our best option.

“I told you the cities were too dangerous!” I growled at my sister.

“They are dangerous Zayn! But if we could just clear them out…”

“Now is really not the time!” Harry said, suddenly right in front of us. For being such a pot head like he claimed, he certainly didn’t move like you’d think a pot head would move, he could run like a damn Olympian when he wanted too. We were on a street in the middle of the city, tall buildings were all around us, and a skyscraper pierced the sky. Abandoned cars were everywhere, so were weeds and grass. I twisted my head, we were getting away from them but the horde was still after us. We ran and ran until finally reaching the van. We all jumped in, Harry started the car, and soon we were off, out of the city and back into the safety of the forested area just outside of it.

“Damn.” Harry said.

“We didn’t get anything…”

“I got some food in my backpack…it’s just some trail mix but it’s better than nothing.” Doniya said, pulling out 3 large bags of trail mix.

“Eh…that should last us a bit.” I said quietly. I shook my head.

“Dammit Doniya…”

“What Zayn!? Out with it!” She snapped.

“I told you we shouldn’t go into the city, way too many walkers, it’s not safe…” She shook her head.

“Yes Zayn, I know…but think if we could clear it out a bit eh? We could use one of those apartment buildings I pointed out; we could get ourselves a place to stay...” I shook my head in anger.

“No, the 3 of us don’t have the guns or the ammo to clear out that many walkers…there are hundreds of them Doniya.”

“I just…” she sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose, like she always did when she got annoyed.

“You’re right, ok? You are right…we need more people, more guns…” She suddenly got a grin on her face.

“You know…remember that radio transmission we picked up…”

“No!!” Harry and I both said in unison.

“B-but Zayn!” She said.

“Doniya…that transmission promised all kinds of stuff. Food, water, a warm bed…but how do we know it’s not just some gang luring people in, only to kill them and steal their shit whenever the poor fucker pops in? It’s too risky…”

“Zayn! Why can’t we just…I don’t know, scout the place out? See if it really is a settlement like the radio said? We don’t know anything Zayn until we look!” She shook her head.

“Mom would listen to me…” My heart ached at the mention of mom. Doniya was my only living relative, we had escaped when everything went down but…the rest of my family hadn’t been so lucky.

“Don’t bring her or anyone else into this.” I said, my voice stern and tight.

“Fine…please Zayn, we can’t just keep driving around foraging for food and hoping we don’t get eaten. We have to stop eventually…how long before the car breaks down and we’re stranded huh? We have to do something…and so far that radio transmission from yesterday is our best and only shot.” I sighed and looked at Harry, who hadn’t said anything in a while and was looking only at the road.

“What do you think Harry?” I asked. Over the past year, I had really gotten to learn about Harry as a person, and I had truly come to think of him as a brother. He had a way about him, a way of just naturally getting people to trust him. But you let yourself trust him and let him in because he is just so genuinely good that you can’t help it. He also let himself trust others easily, which would be endearing if it wasn’t so dangerous nowadays.

“I think…I think you both have a point but…Zayn I have to go with Doniya on this one. We can’t keep just driving around…and maybe the guy, that…what was it? Louis Tomlinson? Maybe he might be trustworthy and really does just want to help people…”

“God you are so trusting.” I said, shaking my head. He laughed.

“Ya but that’s why you love me…you know you can trust me and I like to think I can trust you too.”

“Well, it’s settled then, we’re off to…where was it?” She said, hugging her stuffed bear to her chest.

“It’s some town about 10 miles from here I think, according to the GPS anyway...” Harry said quietly, slowing down a bit and looking at the GPS.

“Oh that’s cool…there is a Fort near the town.” He said. I turned and stared.

“A…fort?”

“Ya, it’s called ‘Fort Hope’” He said.

**Present**

“We’re here.” I said, stopping the car in front of the store. Only one walker nearby, would have to kill him fore we went in.

“Ah…ok.” He said, shaking his head.

“Should I kill that walker or…”

“If you want, just don’t go crazy blood frenzy on me.” I chuckled. Liam didn’t look too amused; he just got out of the car and drew his sword. I opened my door and grabbed my shit, he got his backpack around his shoulders and walked over to the walker, who had just noticed us and was turning on Liam. Liam swung once, there was a quiet swish and the walkers head popped off.

“Nice kill, you practice much before all of this?” I asked, walking up behind him, the shotgun in my right hand and the baseball bat in the other.

“Not too much, I only really started practicing after all of this started…I became very aware how loud guns were ya know?” He said, wiping the blood off on a rag then putting it back in it’s sheathe.

“Ya, I know.” I said. I gestured for the door.

“After you.”

“What, scared?” He asked, amusement clear on his face.

“No, ‘ladies first’ is all.”

“Oh, that’s funny.” He said in his best sarcastic tone. He opened the door and walked inside, I followed him.

“Alright grab the big plastic bags behind the counter, grab a few…also got a few other clothes orders.” I said, holding up the small list in my hand.

“Need some teen girl clothes…and a pair of shoes for this young kid Tony, he managed to ruin his good pair apparently, according to his mother anyway.”

“Right…”

“Then whatever you want of course, though let’s not spend hours here alright? So I hope you know what your size is because you don’t need to be trying on clothing.”

“I got it Zayn…” He had 5 large plastic bags and I smirked.

“Then let’s get started.” I had him go through the men’s stuff while I went around grabbing the stuff the people at the fort wanted. Luckily the store was devoid of life…I guess clothes didn’t attract walkers. I finished up the last of the list and wandered back over to Liam, who had 2 of the 3 bags filled and was currently looking at jeans.

“I don’t know which ones to get…I’m not sure what my pants size is anymore. And I don’t know if these brands run small or big…” I walked up behind him and laughed lightly.

“How do the shorts you’re wearing right now feel?” He frowned.

“They’re really tight to be honest, I don’t like them…” I looked down, they did seem really snug…they really showed off his thighs…and I had a view of his fantastic ass.

“Ah well…if they’re too tight then you should take them off.” I froze, I watched him tense up, oh fuck why did I say that? That was so fucking stupid Zayn god dammit…

“Ok.” He suddenly said.

I swear to fucking Christ my heart skipped a beat

I couldn’t speak, he suddenly turned around, and his face was flustered looking. He wouldn’t look me in the eye, I just kept watching him and we both stood there for fuck knows how long and god dammit he looked so fucking good when he was embarrassed. He suddenly reached down with shaky fingers and popped the button on the shorts. I felt a sudden rush of heat in my groin. Holy fuck what the hell was happening? He unzipped his pants and suddenly they were off, gone, poof. He kicked off his shoes so he could kick away the pants, where they landed next to the bags, his sword, and his backpack. Suddenly here was Liam, in nothing but tight underwear and socks and a too tight T shirt and holy fucking shit I’m pretty sure that tent in his pants meant he was hard.

“Z-Zayn…say something.” He said. I was speechless, I hadn’t meant to even say that and suddenly here he was revealing himself to me and I couldn’t even fucking talk.

“Um…well…oh fuck it.” I said. I moved forward, crowding him against the wall. I put a knee in-between his legs, forcing him to spread them. I felt my chest press up against his own and I grabbed the back of his head and pressed our foreheads together.

“Z-Zayn…” my breath was heavy; I felt his own hot breath against my lips, his lips so dangerously close to mine. I stared into his eyes, he stared right back.

“F-fuck Zayn kiss me already.” He said after a minute. I couldn’t get myself to move, I didn’t expect this, I didn’t expect the extreme want I suddenly felt. Every pore in my body wanted to devour his lips and fuck him till he was raw, I had never felt so…what was the word Harry and Cher used? Thirsty? I guess it fits. I could feel his chest pounding a mile a minute. I tightened my grip on his hip, my index finger playing with the elastic of his briefs; I really wanted him to be naked right now.

“Z-Zayn…” He looked so flustered, he was waiting for me to make a move…and honestly I didn’t know what I wanted to do. Most of me wanted to just take him now…but the other part of me was telling me to end this right now. It was telling me I shouldn’t let myself indulge my want of him…it was a weakness.

But…I already had a whole fort of weaknesses, what’s one more?

“Fuck me.” I growled suddenly. I leaned forward and began tongue fucking his mouth, letting my want and need for Liam take over. He kissed back just as hard as I was kissing him, his hands going under my shirt and dragging along my bare skin. He moaned something I couldn’t understand but didn’t seem to want to stop kissing to tell me. He tugged at his shirt and suddenly message received. I yanked up the shirt and tossed it away, his skin felt like fire on my fingertips. I felt him fumbling with the belt on my jeans and I quickly swatted them away and unbuttoned them myself.

“Mhmmmhmm Zammhmyn…” He attempted to say my name and moan while kissing me, it didn’t work but I understood a ‘wait, hold up’ tone when I heard it. I stopped kissing him, my hands gripping onto the shelves on either side of his head.

“What?” I asked, a bit upset I had to stop, I found that I really didn’t want to stop, at all.

“What…what is this?” he said, his eyes showed how confused he was. I couldn’t blame him, I was probably as confused as he was…I had no idea what this all was either.

“We…we’re just sitting here, tearing each other’s clothes off but before this we never even looked at each other sexually…”

“Liam we…we’re just…” Relieving stress? Having a random quickie just because? I couldn’t really give an answer because I didn’t have one.

“I think we’re just…look I don’t know about you, but I haven’t had sex in a long, long time. And honestly you can only have a hand for company for so long ya know?”

“I…” he looked embarrassed; it kind of confused me because I had no clue where it came from.

“Zayn…I’ve never…actually…” He looked so embarrassed. I reached out and grabbed his chin, making him look at me.

“What? You can tell…”

“I’ve never had sex.” He said, his eyes darting away from me to look at something else. I let go of his chin and frowned at him. I found that surprising…but I guess now that I think about it, it really shouldn’t be that surprising. He’s been alone since he was 16, which was still pretty young to be having sex for some, maybe he just never got the opportunity before all of this or maybe he just never tried? Whichever the case, he was nervous as hell and I had him here, putty in my hands, waiting for me to decide what I was going to do…continue to pursue or let this all drop...for now.

“Alright then lets…get you clothes on again, then we need to leave anyhow, too exposed here…plus its already been over an hour, we need to head back up to the fort and I need…to go check on something.” I had forgotten about the signal, about them, about _her._ I turned around and picked up one of the dropped jeans and handed them to him, he pulled them on and still managed to look embarrassed.

“Ya…ya you’re right we should…go.” He stuffed 5 pairs of jeans into the last trash bag and quietly picked up all of his things and left, I followed behind. We got outside and tossed in all the clothes and everything else before sliding into the truck. Neither of us said a word throughout it all, hell we didn’t even look each other in the eye.

“We…we can talk about this later I guess?” I said before turning the ignition and starting up the truck. He turned and looked at me, I looked right back at him.

“I…think we better.” He said, looking back out the window. I took a small breath and started driving towards the town square.

**Liam**

I think we better Liam? That’s all you’ve got to say?! C’mon Liam…

“I’m going to go check something, you stay here.” He said. I frowned at him, we had gotten to the center of town…but what I saw confused me. The town fountain was covered in ash and still burning embers. A couple pieces of wood were still on fire. What was all of this? I frowned, the grim look on his face told me something was very off right now. He got out, and to my surprise pulled out the handgun and began slowly walking towards the ember fountain. He reached a small statue and pulled something out of her hands. His back was to me so I couldn’t see his face, but I watched his body physically tense.

That’s when I saw the red dot suddenly appear on his shoulder. I bolted out of the car.

“ZAYN DOWN!!” I yelled with all of my strength. He ducked down, and not a second later a loud bang and the statue Zayn had been standing in front of lost a large chunk.

“LIAM BEHIND YOU!!!” Zayn yelled. I turned. I saw the knife coming at me; I rolled to my left and barely dodged the blade. I pulled out my own knife and stood slowly, watching. The one attacking me was a young looking black kid with a shaved head and a scar going from his lip to his chin.

“Who are you!?” I snapped at him, my body tense and ready.

“AHHHHH!!!!” He yelled. He ran forward, I sidestepped and stabbed at him, he turned at the last second, and I felt the blade cut his shirt but didn’t meet skin.

“Why are you fighting us?!” I asked again. He ran at me again, yelling his head off and stabbing and cutting like a wild man.

“Don’t make me kill you!” I yelled. He suddenly bull rushed me, I couldn’t move in time and I was rammed into the truck. I twisted my head, Zayn had moved behind a tree, and was currently in a shootout with the sniper, he was too busy to help; I had to handle this myself. I coughed, my front hurt badly and the back of my head stung. He stood over me, the knife still in his hand.

“Why?! Who are you?!” I asked. He laughed his voice rough.

“Don’t play stupid kid, we both know we’re here to kill Malik.”

“Why!?” I pleaded, I tightened my grip on my knife, distract him for just a second.

“Seriously? You don’t know about Doniya? About what happened?”

“Who? What happened?” I said, surprised. Who the hell was Doniya?

“Zayn’s sister dumb ass…why am I telling you this shit? You’ll be dead in about 5 seconds anyway…” He suddenly raised his knife and stabbed. I moved my body at the last possible second; the knife went right into the car, creating sparks from the knife meeting the metal of the car. I took the chance given to me. I plunged the knife right into his extended knife hand. It went right through his forearm; he screamed and dropped his own knife. I picked it up and dove towards him. I screamed as I ran right into him, the tip of his knife going straight his chest. He let out a soft gasp, his body went limp. I stepped back and watched him fall onto his knees. He looked me right in the eye.

“Don’t…don’t let me…become…” Blood dribbled out of his mouth, message received. I pulled my knife out of his arm, took aim, and rammed it right into the side of his head, right into the brain. His jaw went slack, he stopped moving all together. I pulled out my knife; he fell forward onto his face, dead. I could still hear gunfire, Zayn was still behind a tree, firing at a window in a pet shop, and I could see someone hiding behind a counter, a rifle in his hand, firing right back. I snickered to myself, this was my shot to sneak up on the guy, he was completely enthralled by Zayn and hadn’t even noticed I had killed his friend. I ran around, trying my best not to grab his attention. I kept running, 20 feet, 10 feet, 5 feet…I reached the broken shop window, I could see him clearly not 10 feet away, he was so focused on Zayn he still hadn’t noticed me.

“Put up your hands now or I blow your head off.” I said, pulling out the gun and aiming it right at his head. He froze, he had stopped firing.

“Oh…you got me.” He said, frowning. He stood suddenly and twisted, the rifle pointed right at me, I fired once, I watched a large hole appear right in the middle of his forehead. He pulled the trigger, I felt something sharp in the side of my head. I stumbled backwards and hit the wall; my vision was blurred by oozing blood.

“Oh.” I whispered to myself, watching blood dribble down my face onto the floor.

“Oh…” The bullet must have just grazed me, if it had actually entered my head I would probably already be dead, but fuck did it hurt, and wow that’s a lot of blood.

“LIAM.” I heard someone scream, I started to fall forward as my vision got kind of blurry. I felt Zayn catch me.

“Liam Liam Liam…” He kept repeating my name.

“It’s fine, just a flesh wound.” I chuckled.

“I...still, lots of blood…”

“Ya…kind wanna head back and lay down. I said, feeling drowsy.

“Of course, we need to go before more come, and god knows how many walkers all that shooting attracted.” He had me rap an arm around his shoulder before we limped back over to the car. He got me in then got in himself. He pulled a rag out the backpack and gave it to me.

“Keep it pressed tightly against your head.” He ordered. I listened and felt horribly sharp pain as I did so.

“FUCK!” I yelled as loudly as possible. He drove like a bat out of hell, we got back to the fort and he was screaming for them to open the door. The doors swung lazily open and he gunned it inside.

“Medic!” He snarled. I watched people scrambling around; some asking what the hell was going on, others making sure Zayn was alright, no one was concerned about me.

Well, sides Zayn

“I need the fucking doctor now!” He roared, pushing people out of the way to get to me. He and 2 others helped me out, suddenly I was on the ground as everyone let go of me at the same time.

“Let him die!” someone yelled.

“The fuck do you think you’re doing!?!” Zayn snapped. I let my eyes drift open. I was leaned up against the car; Zayn was in front of me, protecting me. There was a group of 3 right in front of him, all looking very, very pissed off. I stared at the main person right in front, his face looked badly bruised, and it suddenly registered that that was the guy I had beaten earlier. The crowd that had gathered was about 5 feet away, watching in a large semi circle. I could see the Eleanor girl from before, a rifle slung over her shoulder, watching it all. I didn’t see Harry, Cher, Niall, or Louis.

“I’m protecting this community, since apparently you don’t want too!” The main guy said. I didn’t recognize any of them.

“And what does Liam dying have to do with that you fucking twat!?” Zayn said.

“Oh fuck off Malik! We have to protect everyone because you are letting this psychopath beat the shit out of people, then don’t even punish him for it! Look at my face Malik! LOOK AT IT! We all saw what that freak did when he killed all of those walkers…that kid is a fucking psycho and we need to kill him before he goes on a fucking killing spree and starts killing everyone!”

“Liam is not a threat! You even come near him and I swear to god I will blow your fucking brains out.” He hissed. The guy laughed.

“Please. Let’s get him boys!” The 3 boys moved forward, I watched in stunned silence as Zayn pulled out the handgun and pointed it right at them.

Now, I expected him to just hold it up in warning…him firing and blowing a hole right in Nick’s chest was not what I expected.

Bye Bye Nick I guess…

There was stunned silence, nobody said a word, no body moved. Nick fell onto his back, his eyes and mouth still wide open. He was gasping, blood gurgled out of his mouth, and he was still alive somehow. The other two that had been flanking him both looked terrified, they quickly retreated backwards.

“Liam has done nothing wrong since he came here. He has saved a lot of lives, including mine not half an hour ago…they attacked us in town and he saved my life.” He walked forward and stood over Nick.

“Liam is one of us now…and you all know the rules. What happens when a member of this community attacks another if it isn’t in self defense?” He asked, looking around at the crowd. No one spoke; no one said a god damn word. I watched Niall come forward, rifle in his hand like he was ready for a fight, but he quickly shouldered it when he saw what was happening.

“Death.” Niall offered, a grim look on his face. Zayn nodded.

“Death.” He fired a round right into Nicks head, Nick stopped breathing.

“Niall, have someone give him the funeral, then gather the council in my cabin...but send for the medic first, have her come to my cabin and bring her stuff.”

“Right boss.” He said. He looked around.

“Alright people nothing to see here…” The people were dispersing…and they didn’t seem upset. Well the two guys who had been supporting Nick looked terrified, but the others…they didn’t seem phased, like they hadn’t just watched someone get shot and killed right in front of them. I found myself once again questioning where I was…but an even bigger question was on my mind.

Who the fuck is Zayn Malik?

Since I had gotten here, I had had a feeling Zayn was…important somehow, but the total disregard of the fact that he had just killed someone? And true, there was a council…but I got the feeling the council was a sham, if anything they were glorified advisors…no, Zayn ran the show here. Zayn Malik was a very powerful man. I watched him, blood dribbling down my face, my eyes dimming. He looked so beautiful, giving out orders to people, his movements very quick; he was probably still kicked up on adrenaline.

Then he looked at me

I felt my heart start beating a little faster, his gaze stayed on me; I was shamelessly gawking at his beauty. Despite everything that had happened, my thoughts turned back to the store. The sudden rush of heat that had filled my being at his words. The thought of being naked, exposed to someone so…powerful. The memory of his mouth on mine, hands running all over me, pupils black, blown. I wanted to feel that again, no I had to feel that again. Maybe it was my head wound, maybe it was blood loss…but all I know is right now my mind was filled with Zayn Malik, touching my exposed virgin body, doing things no one else has done to my body. Zayn was a powerful man; I wanted to see how powerful he really was.

“Liam.” Zayn whispered, concern in his eyes. He was kneeling in front of me, just hearing him say my name made me shiver ever so slightly.

“Liam…” My vision got hazy, blood loss tended to do that to you.

“Zayn…we still…need to have…that talk…” I whispered, black began crowding into my vision. He chuckled.

“We will Liam, we will…when you wake up…” I was enveloped by black, his eyes the last thing I saw.

**_Hours later_ **

I woke up in the cabin. I was on my side of the bed, the covers were over me and the teddy bear was tucked firmly next to my head. I stared at the ceiling, I could hear voices. I looked, the council was sitting around the table, talking, all of them looked deathly serious. I decided to feign consciousness; I wanted to hear everything, no hiding things.

“Tomorrow? Zayn you can’t be seriously considering going…” Cher said, her eyes not playful like I had grown accustomed too.

“They tried to kill you Zayn.” Louis growled.

“I know Louis…but in the note they agreed to the meeting, why would they agree only to try to kill me? Too many questions, and she has all the answers…I have to go.”

“You said you can only take 2 people right? Who are you taking with you?” Harry asked. He shook his head.

“I’m still thinking about that…I don’t know.”

“Take Niall and I, if anything goes down you know we’ve got your back 100%.” Louis said. Harry frowned.

“Louis…”

“I’ll be fine Harry. Please Zayn you need your best with you...”

“Actually, I was considering taking Liam.” I could practically hear Louis scowl.

“And why the fuck would you do that?”

“Because Louis, I said no guns…but I didn’t say anything about knives or swords. If it came down to it, Liam has shown that his skill with a blade is unrivaled…except maybe by me but that’s beside the point. He would make an excellent body guard. Now the real question is if I’m bringing you or Niall…”

“No, you’re taking me.” Harry said. They all stopped and turned on him.

“No.” Louis said immediately.

“Zayn you have to let me go, you just have to let me talk to…”

“Harry…that won’t work, we’ve tried that remember?”

“I…I know Zayn I just…I feel like this whole situation is my fault Zayn. What happened…what happened with Doniya…” Zayn raised a hand, Harry stopped.

“Zayn…”

“Harry…we have to accept that what happened happened and there isn’t a fucking thing we can do about it…we can’t change the past.”

“No…no I guess we can’t can we?” Harry sighed loudly and scratched his scalp.

“Well then, who do you wanna take boss?” Niall said. He huffed a bit and let out a small laugh.

“Draw straws?” Cher laughed at that.

“Yes boys, draw straws! That’s how we should solve all of our dilemmas…”

“Boss I have no issues staying behind.” Niall volunteered.

“Well that settles it then. Louis you are with me. Niall, you are going to gather half the army together and sit. The second things go bad, I’m gonna blow the air horn you found in town and you come running in with the others, got it?”

“Isn’t it supposed to just be 3 of you?”

“I don’t trust them Harry, I’m not going into a potential ambush…they tried to kill me, maybe, after all. Anyway, Niall and the others will be far enough away that they won’t even know they are there.”

“Are we sure about this Zayn? If things go bad…”

“War.” He said, his tone monotone. No one said anything for about a minute.

“Alright everyone, that’s it for tonight…get some sleep, we have a big day tomorrow.” They got up to leave, I watched Cher leave, followed by Niall…but the door closed. Louis and Harry were still here.

“Coming Harry?” Louis asked. Harry shook his head.

“I wanted to talk to Zayn in private if you don’t mind?” Louis frowned at that. He walked forward and planted a long kiss on Harry before whispering something to him that made Harry grin from ear to ear.

“Oh I won’t be long, don’t worry.”

“I’ll wait outside.” Louis chuckled. He walked out and closed the door behind him.

“You two really are extremely horny. I am honestly wondering if there is something wrong with you.” Zayn chuckled.

“Nothing’s wrong Zayn. We are young and guys, so naturally we are extremely horny and enjoy having sex with each other…a lot.” Harry sat down and watched Zayn for a second; it took me a second to realize Zayn was staring at me. My eyes were barely open; I was hoping he couldn’t tell.

“Zayn? You’re staring at Liam.” Harry said.

“I know I am.”

“That enthralled by his beauty huh?” Zayn stopped staring and turned on Harry.

“No, I’m just worried about him…” Harry looked surprised.

“Why? It was a case of ‘looked worse than it actually was’. Taylor said it was barely a scratch, it just bled a lot because it’s a head wound…I mean damn Zayn he didn’t even need stitches.”

“He still passed out; I mean that could be really bad, he isn’t even awake…”

“Zayn.” Harry said, putting a hand on Zayn’s hand. He stopped and turned.

“What’s this really about Zayn? Did something happen with Liam today?” Zayn froze a bit, and then quickly shook his head.

“No…”

“Zayn you know I can always tell when you are lying…c’mon, tell the truth.”

“Well…we sort of…almost had sex earlier.” Harry looked stunned…then started to laugh.

“ _I knew it!”_

“Shut it Styles! We didn’t actually…do it. We just…snogged a bit, took off some of his clothes, and almost got my pants off. I stopped things before it got…too heavy. Plus we were in town…not exactly a safe place to fuck.”

“I’m just surprised you didn’t cream yourself just from making out it’s been so long.” Harry teased.

“Oh shut it you stoner.” Zayn grumbled.

“Oh shut it Zayn, you really don’t have much right to call me a stoner do you Mr. ‘I smoked a pillow with my mates in high school’.” They then proceeded to start talking about times they got really fucking high, and the ridiculous things they said or thought about or did. They chatted for a good 15 minutes before Harry smiled and stood.”

“We need to just talk more Zayn; we don’t get to do it as much anymore.”

“Ya I know…” He stood but Harry pulled him into a hug.

“Please Zayn…be safe, I still think you should let me talk to her but I know, we can’t change what happened…” He kissed Zayn’s forehead.

“Give Liam a kiss for me.” Harry said, smiling.

“Sure.”

“On his cock.”

“Get out you horny fuck.” Zayn scowled, drawing a laugh from Harry. He closed the door behind Harry and locked it, letting out a loud sigh. He turned around and stripped off his shirt, showing off his beautiful abs and his wonderful tattoos. The tattoos I planned on making him go over with me at some point.

“So ready for that talk?” He said, crawling onto the bed and lying down right next to me.

“So I’m going with you am I?” I asked. He crawled under the covers; I twisted so I was on my side, staring at him.

“If you want, I can’t force you.” He looked tired, but his eyes still watched, always alert, always watching…

“No, I want to go…I don’t…look Zayn I don’t know what’s going on. That guy from earlier, the one I killed? I asked him why he was attacking us, he laughed at me, said he couldn’t believe I didn’t know about…Doniya.” I watched him physically tense at the name.

“He said…she is your sister?”

“Was.”

“She’s dead?”

“Yes.” He said. He twisted so he was on his back and took a long breath.

“Listen, Zayn…”

“You didn’t want to talk about your past Liam, I get that.” He suddenly said, an arm over his eyes.

“You promised me though you would, another time…now I have to promise you the same thing.”

“I…ok.”

“Ok?” he asked.

“Ok…but can you at least tell me about this other gang? Why did they try to kill you?”

“You know I run things by now don’t you?” he said, an eye poking out from under his arm and turning on me.

“Ya, I figured it out earlier when you shot that guy in the head.”

“Nick knew the rules. We don’t attack our own unless in self defense. You get 2 warnings…he used up both of them today.”

“ANYWAY.” I said. He chuckled.

“Look, a lot of people want me dead. People who want the fort, who think they deserve it simply because they want it. Like children. That’s what they are, fucking children.” He shook his head.

“The gang is run by someone who really, really hates me, for good reason.”

“The reason?”

“The reason isn’t important, all you need to know is that they hate me and want me dead…but we made a truce with them after the big fight. The fight we won. We made a deal with them, we claimed the town, they claimed the city miles away from here. We’ve haven’t had any issues with them…but if for whatever reason we needed to talk, we set up the bon fire. We set it on fire, leave the message of where to meet, leave. Come back, the other should have responded. If they don’t respond, then that means they don’t want to talk.” He shook his head.

“We meet with them tomorrow.”

“Where?” I asked. He smiled weakly.

“A small farm we found a long time ago, its right in-between the town and the city. Perfect place to meet. It’s in the open so no chance of a sneak attack or others hiding out. You heard what I said to Niall earlier though. I’ll have him stationed far enough out that a simple blow horn and he comes running.”

“And…you are just going to go talk to them?”

“Ya, I need to ask her a few things.”

“Her?”

“The leader, a woman.”

“Ah, ok.” He was quiet, I didn’t speak either.

“Any other questions?” He asked.

“No, if any come up I’ll ask…” He looked over at me and frowned.

“So…I guess we should have that…talk.” I frowned as well, I really wasn’t sure how this was going to go over…all I know is that I was very, very attracted to him and how powerful he was, which confused the hell out of me because I had never thought myself to be attracted to something like power.

“Where do you see a relationship with me going?” He asked.

“Where do you see a relationship with _me_ going?” I retorted.

“I’m a stupid kid with emotional problems and I sometimes go kind of bloodlust psycho rage…ish. I’m not exactly...worth it.” I said, looking away from him.

“Oh please. I’ve done things that would make you hate me more than you’ve ever hated anyone in your entire life.” He chuckled. I snorted.

“Try me.”

“I shot someone in the head for trying to steal food.” He said.

“I ripped a guys nose off with my teeth when he tried to rape me, then I stabbed him with my sword.” I replied. His eyes widened a bit.

“I killed 20 walkers with nothing but a laptop.” I stared at him.

“Really?”

“Really, it was all I had at the time.” He chuckled. We swapped stories, laughing about the ridiculous lengths we had had to go to fight off other humans and walkers. At some point during the story telling he moved closer to me, closer and closer until suddenly his arms were around me and I was pressed up against him, listening to him tell me about the time Harry and him killed a walker with a large TV they picked up together and tossed at it. Soon he stopped talking and we just watched each other.

“You ready for bed then?” He asked quietly. I nodded.

“I guess we can talk about what happened at the store another time.” I said. He smiled.

“No need, I think it’s pretty clear neither of us regrets it.” He let me go and turned off the lamp, leaving the room pitch black. Soon his arms were back around me.

“So…if neither of us regrets it…it wouldn’t be so bad if it happened again?” I said, unable to help myself. I felt him tense up a bit, but a throaty chuckle escaped his lips.

“Cheeky fuck.” He suddenly pushed me onto my back, his full weight on top of me, and his breath hot in my face. I was blushing like crazy, my dick was already started to get hard. I heard a button and a zip and after some jostling, Zayn’s pants were off. I could feel his soft heat through his boxers…but I could feel it moving, getting harder already.

“Zayn…” I whimpered. He kissed me again, his lips soft yet pushing so hard against mine. His tongue darted inside, exploring my mouth. I moaned, grinding my hips upwards, the friction felt amazing. I felt hands exploring my body, lingering over parts he found made me squirm, either because they were ticklish or a bit more sensitive in a good way. I let my own hands explore, traveling over his shoulders, the arch of his back, his butt, god I loved his butt. He bit down on my throat, the bite somehow gentle yet hard at the same time.

“How far do you want to take this?” He asked, leaving more little bite marks on my throat.

“As far as you are willing to go.” I replied immediately. I mean honestly, why wait? We both knew this was going to happen eventually…why delay the inevitable?

“All the way.” He growled out, biting hard into my shoulder. I let out a little gasp and then let out a small throaty laugh.

“All the way.” He sat up and pulled my underwear off, a little rustling and soon he was back on me. I couldn’t see it, but I could certainly feel it grinding up against my own, he was very well endowed in the sex organ area. He grinded harder into me, I bucked upwards as well, I could already feel the pre cum dribbling out of me, I was pretty much ready for release already.

“Zayn, I’m…” I gasped, the feeling in the pit of my stomach was building, I was gonna go soon.

“Already?” He chuckled.

“It’s been a while!” I whimpered. That simply made him grind harder.

“Ya…me too, it’s been…ugh…” We both stopped talking; I stopped thinking as orgasm rushed through my body, shooting in-between our stomachs. He let out a groan and I felt his own orgasm hitting my stomach. I felt him shudder on top of me, I just sat, working through the extreme pleasure rushing through my body.

“That…was fantastic.” He said quietly. I laughed.

“Ya…masturbation can only take you so far…guess I’m not a virgin anymore.” I said with a small laugh.

“No you are, no penetration means you are still a virgin.” He kissed me hard before crawling off of me. The lamp suddenly turned on, his back was to me as he picked up an old T shirt and tossed it to me. I had to just stare at his perfect ass for a second before cleaning up. He grabbed the shirt I was wearing earlier and cleaned himself up. He stretched for a second before turning on me.

“Gonna use the toilet for a sec.”

“Alright.” I said with a small smile. He didn’t smile as he turned and walked away, the door closed behind him. I tossed the shirt away and laid back down, a frown on my face. He didn’t particularly look happy. Maybe he wasn’t happy, maybe he didn’t like that he gave into his desires…it was understandable, now that I’m thinking over what all had happened and my hormones had calmed down…I can’t help but wonder if that was really a good idea.

I mean if I really think about it…I haven’t really had any sexual contact, I barely masturbated anymore (mostly out of fear of being caught with my pants down…literally) and he offered me sex…and I took it. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted him just as much as he wanted me if not more, but was it really a good idea? Would this happen again? Would he want it to happen again? Were things going to be awkward between us now? I had to prepare myself for the inevitable fact that this probably was a onetime thing, a fluke. He even said himself it had been a while…we were just horny, we let our hormones take over, never gonna happen again…

“Hey, Liam.” He poked his head out of the bathroom, a toothbrush sticking out of his mouth.

“You tired?”

“Ya?” I said, a bit confused by the question.

“Alright.” He said, retreating back into the bathroom.

What the hell had that been about? I heard the sink turn on for about a minute then it was off. He walked back into the room, I blushed at the site of his cock, even though it was flaccid it was still pretty big, hell it swayed a bit when he walked. He jumped on the bed and right on top of me. I blushed hard as he suddenly leaned down and kissed me, hard, the only way he seemed to know how to kiss.

“Bed. Sleep. Now.” He chuckled. He jumped off the bed and switched off the lights. I felt some movement then he was yanking me up against him.

“Sleep.” He laughed.

“You’re in a surprisingly good mood considering tomorrow.” I said. He laughed again, right against my ear.

“You got me in a good mood, what can I say?”

“So…you don’t…regret it? This wasn’t a onetime thing or anything?”

“Do you want it to be?” He asked. His grip loosened, my hand shot up and grabbed hold of it and he laughed loudly.

“I’ll take that as a no.”

“You can take that as a no.” I said, surprised at how sad I had suddenly felt when he even suggested it. I felt really attached to him and I didn’t understand how or why…a few days ago I was willing to cut his throat for a car and some food, now I felt like I couldn’t be happy ever again if he even got hurt.

“Now shhh, I’m tired.” He mumbled. I grabbed the teddy bear and pressed it up against my chest, I listened to his slow, rhythmic breathing for a while, and eventually sleep took me.

**Zayn**

**2 Years ago**

“Hold it!” Someone yelled. We all stopped. We had almost reached the town, though now a boy with a gun stood in our way. We had had to park about a mile back, the road was covered in abandoned cars we couldn’t move, and we couldn’t go around because of the forest on either side. So walking had become our option despite the fact that I really didn’t want to leave the car, but the two of them talked me into it.

“Whoa! Easy! We aren’t here to fight!” Harry said, stepping forward.

“I said hold it curly!” The guy said. Harry smiled.

“We only came here because of a radio transmission; we’re looking for Louis Tomlinson.”

“Well, you found him.” A voice said. Another gun cocked, I twisted my head. A woman stepped out from behind a tree, a very large rifle in her hand.

“Oh, so you’re Louis!” Harry said, never looking away from the guy in front of us.

“Ya, I am…so you heard the transmission eh? I didn’t even know it was still going to be honest…” He kept the rifle level.

“Drop your bags and guns on the ground. Cher is going to pat you down to make sure you aren’t hiding anything…” He whistled, another woman came running from our right, a handgun in her right hand.

“Perrie, grab their stuff.”

“Ah, so you’re robbing us is that it?” I asked. He laughed.

“Come on mate, you had to have seen this coming…you really think we just let anyone into the town? We are just being cautious is all, making sure you don’t come in blowing people’s heads off…”

“I understand and we have no issues complying…um but I do have a small question.” Harry said, pulling out his handgun and placing it on the ground. Doniya and I followed suit, the Perrie girl came and started grabbing the stuff while Cher started patting Doniya down.

“And your question?” Louis asked.

“Do you guys have any pizza?” He said, frowning.

“I’ve been fucking dying for a piece…” Louis just stared at him like he was crazy, Perrie laughed while Cher giggled to herself.

“I like you already.” Perrie chuckled, walking over to Louis with the stuff.

“Who are you?” He asked curiously.

“Harry Styles. And these two are…”

“Zayn Malik. This is my sister Doniya.” I said as Cher started patting me down.

“Cute one aren’t you?” Cher chuckled.

“Really cute, like really really….”

“Ok Cher.” Louis growled. She winked at me as she walked away towards Harry.

“Actually Cher I’ll pat him down.” Louis said, strolling over to Harry.

“Sure sure Louis.” Cher chuckled. Louis walked up to Harry; the size difference was very noticeable.

“Hi.”Harry said, grinning.

“Hi.”Louis said. He was patting down Harry’s side and down his pants.

“At least buy me dinner first.” Harry giggled. I heard the other two and Doniya snicker and I couldn’t help but break a smile myself, Harry was working his magic, they already liked him…now to get them to like us…though with Harry it wouldn’t be hard.

“Alright you’re clean.” Louis said, a small smile on his face. Harry said something so low I couldn’t hear him, only Louis could…who made a very shocked, yet very lusty face at Harry. Oh jeez, these two were probably gonna be banging by the end of the night.

“Alright, let’s take them to town…”

“To who, your leader?” I asked. Louis turned and frowned at me.

“Well...we had a leader. His name was Simon but…he’s gone now. We’ve been sort of leaderless for the last few weeks…” He shook his head.

“I’ll fill you all in when we get there. For now let’s just get to town.”

**Liam**

**Present**

“Liam, Leeeeeyummmm…” My eyes fluttered open, Zayn was looking down at me only in a pair of briefs.

“Huh, what?” I asked, yawning.

“I already took my shower, wanted to let you sleep in a bit…but its time Liam. Go shower up and get changed, we are leaving in an hour.” I nodded grimly and stood up, still naked.

“Ahem.” A voice said at the table. I felt the blush cover my whole body, I was naked, and I hadn’t even seen Harry sitting at the table.

“Harry!” I power walked into the bathroom and I heard Harry laughing the whole way.

“Oh don’t be embarrassed! It’s nothing I haven’t seen before!” I shut the door and shook my head, I had to focus, I needed to focus, I had to be there, in the zone, ready for anything, for Zayn. I jumped in the shower and scrubbed myself clean, I almost managed to finish in the few minutes of hot water I had but not quite, I needed to work on it. I dried off and walked out, a towel hanging loosely around my waist. The room was empty when I came out. I strolled over to one of the shopping bags from yesterday and pulled out some of the clothes. I opened up a fresh pack of underwear and pulled them on. I then pulled on a pair of dark jeans and a white T shirt with black sleeves. I pulled on socks, and then pulled on a pair of steel toed boots I also managed to snag from the store. I took a deep breath, ok Liam you can do this.

I walked outside and closed the door behind me

Zayn was sitting on the porch speaking with the council. He was wearing a white long sleeved Henley and a pair of tight black jeans. I bit my lip, fuck he looked hot…no Liam, focus.

“Ah the man of the hour!” Cher said, walking over and patting my cheek.

“Oh you look so cute!”

“Cher, focus.” Zayn said.

“Oh calm down Zayn, it’s not like he’s interested in little old me…he practically started drooling the second he saw you Zayny poo.” Damn she had saw that? I really needed to watch myself around her, from what I can tell she notices EVERYTHING.

“ANYWAY.” Louis huffed. Zayn shook his head.

“Anyway the plan is set. Louis, Liam, and I will be heading for that farm in-between the city and the town. Meanwhile Niall and half the army will be just outside, and if things go bad…” He pulled out an air horn from his back pocket.

“It’s not the quietest thing in the world but it will do. I blow this Niall then you better come running with the men. If we don’t need to blow the air horn, we will meet up with you in person and we can all head back to the fort, you guys got all that?” Everyone nodded…except for Harry, who still didn’t look happy.

“Zayn…I don’t like this, I don’t like that you are meeting up with them…this could be a trap.”

“I know Harry, but I’ve taken precautions, and we are only going to talk to them. This doesn’t…this doesn’t need to be needlessly violent.”

“Ya…ya.” Harry still didn’t look happy but he nodded anyway.

“Alright, it’s time to go.” Zayn said, standing and taking a stretch.

“Niall, they all ready?”

“Everything is ready to go boss man.” Niall said, smiling. Cher grinned.

“Then let’s move out boys.” Niall went to check on the troops while the rest of us headed to the armory. Zayn tossed me my sword and knife. I put the knife on my right hip while I put Edge on my left. Zayn grabbed one of the metal baseball bats while Louis opted for a machete. But I didn’t get really surprised until I saw Zayn grab a grenade.

“You’re bringing a grenade?” I said, surprised.

“Of course I am.” He responded.

“But where are you even…”

“I’ve got it covered.” Louis said, grabbing it and fitting it into one of his pockets.

“Sweats. So baggy you won’t even notice it.” Louis chuckled. He frowned and rubbed the back of his head.

“Look Liam, I feel like I owe you an apology.”

“Well this is rare!” Cher said. She poked Harry in the stomach.

“What the hell kind of sex did you give him to get him to apologize?!” Louis glared at her and Harry just smiled.

“This is all Louis Cher, I didn’t say a word.” Louis shook his head and turned back to me.

“Anyway, you’ve really proven yourself so…here.” He held out his hand. I looked around, everyone really did look surprised, and Louis looked a bit uncomfortable. I had a feeling Louis apologizing really was a big deal.

“I…thank you Louis.” I shook his hand.

“Well, now that that beautiful moment is out of the way, you boys better be getting on the road!” We all walked to the front gate. Niall and about 30 other people were piled into a couple other cars and already waiting.

“Alright, you better all come back in one piece!” Harry said, looking like he was going to cry. He pulled me into a tight hug, I hugged him back.

“Watch them for me eh?” He whispered. I nodded, he was really trusting me right now and I was determined not to let him down…I would protect them with my life, I would protect _him_ with my life. He pulled Zayn into a tight hug as well and whispered something to him too. Then he got to Louis, and suddenly tears were in his eyes. Louis looked like he was about to get emotional too. Harry leaned in and they kissed passionately, it really was a beautiful kiss, it showed just how much they loved each other.

“Alright enough with the sappy stuff!” Cher said, though she looked like she was on the verge of crying herself.

“Just…come back in one piece eh?” She ruffled Louis and Zayn’s heads then got to me. She suddenly kissed me right on the lips again, though this time it was only a peck on the lips and not full on trying to get her tongue in like before.

“Don’t die eh? Zayn wouldn’t stop crying for months!”

“ _Ahem!”_ Zayn growled, looking (to my weird pleasure) jealous.

“We’ll be back soon I promise!” Louis said. The three of us piled into the jeep and soon the gates swung open. We drove.

The drive itself took about half an hour. Niall and half of the ‘army’ were right behind us the whole time. I knew we were almost there when they dipped off into the forest. The three of us didn’t speak the entire time. We just listened to the car engine and tried to contain our giddiness, our anxiety, and our fears.

 

The farm itself was tiny. There was the main house that was burnt to the ground, and then there was the barn, all big and red like it should be. There were empty pins scattered all around, and a black truck was already parked in front.

“They must already be here.” Zayn said, a very dark look to his eyes, it reminded me of the dark Zayn that had threatened me, I really didn’t like seeing that Zayn. We all got out, the barn door was closed.

“Zayn this could be the trap…we open that and they open fire.” Louis said. He nodded.

“I’ll open it, you stay back alright? If it’s safe you two walk in…” We stopped walking towards the barn when Zayn made a very sudden stop and turned on us, that dark look still in his eye.

“No matter what happens, you do not attack first. No matter what she says, no matter how much she tries to provoke or scare you…do not show fear, or anger, or any emotions. She will play on you, she will try to get you to attack…any excuse to break the peace and attack. So no matter what happens we do NOT attack first, you got that?” He was staring at Louis.

“Got it.” Louis said, nodding. Zayn turned his eyes on me.

“I got you.” I said. Sympathy rose in his eyes as he looked at me.

“I’m sorry I drug you into this Liam, I hope you know that.” I nodded.

“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else Zayn.” He smiled at me, I smiled back.

“Oh gods hurry up before I ask them to shoot me.” Louis groaned. Zayn nodded and patted my cheek before turning around and continuing his walk. He threw open the barn doors…and I was a bit surprised at what I saw.

The barn had been cleaned out; there was literally nothing but walls, stairs leading to the upstairs that also looked bare from what I could see, windows, and another set of large doors on the other side of the barn. All that was inside was a long table, about 4 feet wide and 7 feet long. The table only had two chairs; one on either end of the table…one of those chairs was currently occupied. The woman sitting at the table had her feet propped up on it. She was wearing black combat boots, black khakis, and a large black T shirt with a small coat over it. Part of her head was completely shaven while the rest was jet black hair that went down to her shoulders. She had one small septum piercing and a small piercing right below her lip. She was flanked by two guys, both standing holding baseball bats and looking very tense. She however looked the picture of calm; she was currently cleaning out her nails with a large combat knife with finger guards.

“About time.” She huffed, looking annoyed.

“Sorry to hold you up.” Zayn said. He walked forward and sat down himself, Louis and I followed in behind him, flanking him like her bodyguards were flanking her.

“Close the door will you Lou Lou? Less chance of walkers getting in.” She fixed cold, dead eyes on him. Louis didn’t say a word; he simply turned around and closed the door, then returned to his position. She suddenly turned those eyes on me…but they lit up slightly.

“Well, you’re new.” She said, eyeing me all over and managing to make me feel a bit uncomfortable.

“Where did they manage to scrounge you up?”

“Oh…um…” Her nose wrinkled.

“What are you retarded?”

“Hey, your conversation is with me.” Zayn said. She stopped looking at me and turned her glare at Zayn.

“Yes, I suppose it is…how you been Zayn?”

“Fine, finally cleared the town out.”

“I saw, it almost doesn't look like a piece of shit now.”

“How about you?”

“Not much, cleared out more walkers, we’ve cleared them out of the area so we have another city block cleared.”

“That’s good, that’s…good.” He said. Silence, they both stared at each other.

“So…is that it? That all you wanted? Fuck Zayn it’s been a year already and you can’t even comment on your sisters’ new haircut?”

My heart skipped a beat

“S-sister?” I said out loud, unable to help myself. She turned on me, curiosity in her eyes.

“Yes sister…seriously Zayn where did you get this kid? Did you seriously not tell him anything?” She suddenly laughed. Zayn had a very dark, yet calm look to his face.

“Well I guess I should introduce myself…my name is Doniya Malik, I’m Zayn’s younger and only surviving sibling.”

“B-but Zayn said you were dead…” She laughed.

“Oh come now…” She stood suddenly; everyone flinched in the room except for Zayn and Doniya. She lifted up her shirt, my blood ran cold.

Right in the side of her stomach was a scar, a scar that looked eerily familiar, a scar that looked just like the marks on my back.

Bite marks

“Just because I got bit, doesn’t mean I’m dead…it just means I’m a survivor.” She laughed to herself.

“Telling people I’m dead Zayn, honestly how rude of you, now is that any way to treat your sister?”

“You aren’t my sister, my sister died a long time ago.” He said, dark Zayn in full force now.

“Ya, I suppose you did kill her didn’t you?” She shook her head.

“But deny that I’m your sister all you want, doesn’t change the fact that we are here now, and you wanted to talk…but I got to say…” She sat back down and propped her legs back up.

“I’m started to get bored. So let’s hurry this along, ok big brother?”


	3. Villain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am truly sorry this took so long, my life has been hectic as all holy hell, but I do have a bit of good news. Next chapter will be the last chapter...everything will come to a head, and everything will be resolved. Anywho, hope you enjoy...and I should warn that this is the chapter where the smut warning comes in.

**Chapter 3: Villain**

**Liam**

**3 years ago**

It felt like gravity had sort of twisted, making me feel like I was floating and being crushed to the floor at the same time. I was watching them, watching biting gnawing gnashing teeth and flesh and gums and death, death everywhere. My eyes clouded over, my blood rushed into my brain, blinding me in a red veil of death. I woke a moment later, the gnashing gnawing teeth gone and my body weak, so tired, so tired, fire in my back, where I was bit, where gnashing teeth bit into me, betraying me. I sobbed, falling onto my knees, my face slick with sweat, tears, and blood. I fell onto my side, my body numb with pain, black overtaking me.

This is what death is, huh Sophia?

I’m sorry…so sorry…so…sorry…

**Present**

 “Oh, whats your face, Liam?” She pointed at me. I almost answered but a warning glare from Zayn and I shut up.

“Oy! Retard! Are you listening?!” She yelled.

 “Doniya, we aren’t here to badger the new kid. I have questions and you have answers.” Zayn growled.

 “Then what questions do you have Zayn?”

“The walkers that were in front of the grocery store, was that you?”

“Yes.” She said immediately.

“We herded some away from the city, saved on bullets…though didn’t expect them to go all the way to town.”

“The two who tried to kill us…” he started.

“Oh tragic story, they both lost family members to you last year in the big fight, been holding a real bad grudge for a long time…guess they decided to take some action when they figured out you were going to be alone...again didn’t expect it, by the time I knew they were gone you had already killed them.”

“So…” Zayn looked a bit surprised. Doniya just laughed.

“Jesus Zayn, you really wanted there to be something didn’t you? I am plotting to assassinate the president muahahahaha that kind of shit. No faith huh? Asshole.”

“Doniya, it’s not…”

“Shut up Zayn, I want to talk to Liam now.” She said, looking right back at me.

“So, what are you to Zayn?” I just stared, making sure no emotion showed on my face.

“I mean, you certainly are a looker, are you some kind of whore? Or…oooooohhhh are you Zayn’s current plaything?” She asked. I steadied myself, show nothing.

“Oh man, is it unrequited love? Because I doubt Zayn plays for the boys now, I mean let me tell you. Before all this end of the world nonsense started, my brother Zayn here was such a pussy magnet! I swear he banged like every chick in his class…” My eye twitched, was she serious? No! Liam! No emotion!

“Leave him alone Doniya.” Zayn snapped. She just started laughing.

“Oh nice try trying to cover for him Zayn darling, but his little eye twitched when I mentioned your slutty high school days, that was just pure jealousy, I mean man, he looked like he wanted to find all those cunts you fucked and just…” Zayn stood up suddenly, everyone in the room tensed.

“That’s all I wanted to know Doniya, we’re leaving…”

“What’s the rush Zayn? You lit the beacon, we came all the way out here, haven’t seen you in over a year…yet all you’ve done is ask me two questions and decide you want to leave. You haven’t even said anything about my haircut…”

“It looks nice Doniya, we’re leaving.” He turned but Doniya stood suddenly.

“Hold it Zayn. The agreement was that when we set up this meeting, both parties must stay and talk until both of us are done talking…and I’m not done yet. Breaking the agreement means war.” Zayn looked at me for just a second, hot rage flashed across his face before it was gone and he turned back around.

“Any excuse for war, eh Doniya? Still as bloodthirsty as the last time I saw you…grow up already.” Her eyes flashed with anger, she looked eerily similar to Zayn when they did.

“You can’t really blame me Zayn, you did kill my fiancé for no reason other than he didn’t agree with you becoming leader.”

“We got overrun Doniya how many times do I have to tell you!?”

“You’re a liar Zayn. You lie about everything, why should I believe you now?” She laughed.

“No. No you murdered him; you let a walker bite him, and then killed him. It was only a small bite Zayn, he would have lived…but no, no you put him down, like a fucking dog.” She laughed and turned on me.

“Once he was dead, you know what happened? I went to my dead fiancés friends, I gathered people around me…and I tried to take Zayn down. That was the first fight. A lot of people died on both sides, 250 people knocked down to somewhere around the 150 mark. I became the leader of my group of rebels; we lost the fight and were banished. I moved all of us that were left to the city, we cleared it out, and that’s where I live now...” She smiled.

“I told you that we could do it Zayn, clear out the city, I told you we could do it.”

“Ya…ya you did.” We were quiet; I was trying my best to process all of this new information. Zayn killed her fiancé?

“So Liam? Do you know who exactly you’ve aligned yourself with? Who you are sharing a bed with at night? Who has probably already wormed himself into your pants…”

“Shut the fuck up Doniya, he has nothing to do with this.”

“Oh hush now Zayn, he deserves to know what a conniving murdering thug you are.” I frowned, something she had said bothered me, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

 “But anyway, I suppose I should thank you Liam.” Doniya smirked, sitting down.

“Oh? And why’s that?” I asked.

“You confirmed for me that you two are together, which means you Liam, are a very important piece of property.” She laughed.

“I lied before, my brother has never been in a relationship his entire life, hell if he ever had sex or even showed interest in another person it would have been a miracle…but he never did, until now.” She grinned darkly.

“So, ready for the party?” She banged her hand into the table. The bodyguards behind her started walking forward, baseball bats in hand.

“Doniya, what is this?” Zayn said cautiously.

“Kill Louis; leave Zayn and Liam alive…” She grinned.

“Zayn don’t you get? I am going to kill Louis, and I am taking Liam with me…” She stood, a dark shade over her eyes…again it eerily reflected Zayn when he got like that.

“I want my war Zayn, and killing one of your best friends and taking your lover hostage should just about do it.”

“Doniya, don’t do this, we can leave right now and forget, everything you just said didn’t happen.” I said, backing up slowly.

Then Zayn started laughing

The two bodyguards stopped walking forward, Doniya looked a bit surprised.

“Whats so funny?!” She asked, looking almost offended that he would laugh in such a situation.

“You! You are funny Doniya!” He said, laughing even harder. She stared at him.

“Excuse me?”

“I want my war! HA! I can’t even imagine how many hours you spent practicing that in the mirror in your shitty city home…”

“Are you mocking me!?!?” She said. She looked and sounded so angry her body was literally shaking, her hands were clenched tightly.

“Zayn…” I whispered cautiously.

“Shut up Liam.” He hissed at me, I was taken aback by his words, where the fuck did that come from?

“Doniya…dear sweet, stupid Doniya…” He walked over to me and suddenly yanked my sword out of it’s sheathe. I stared at him, what the fuck was he doing touching Edge? I can take a lot…but no one touches my sword but me.

“Give me that back.” I growled at him. He smiled.

“In a second love.” He patted my cheek and turned around.

“Doniya…” He walked forward towards one of the guards. One of them backed up, looking terrified, while the other stood his ground.

“Doniya…I am going to teach you a good life lesson right now.” The guard rushed at Zayn, baseball bat ready to strike. Zayn struck out once, the bat was literally cut in half. The guard just stood there, stunned as Zayn shoved Edge through his head. He pulled it out and the man collapsed, Doniya looked stunned.

“G-get him!” She hissed at the guard. He just stood there, shaking like a leaf and looking scared shitless. Zayn struck out and suddenly the guards arm was just…gone, it fell onto the ground and he started screaming. Blood shot out and covered the table, covered Doniya who quickly backed away and tripped over the chair, hitting the ground. Louis looked shocked and wasn’t moving or saying a word.

“Doniya…” Zayn walked forward and stood over her.

“Life lesson Doniya. Do not fuck with me. Do not bring up your petty war bullshit. I am done giving you warnings…do not fuck with me. If more people have to die simply because you are a child, I will have no problem cutting you down.” He pressed the sword against her throat.

“You don’t threaten me with war again, or I swear to god I will cut down every man, woman, and child living in that shit hole you call a home. Then I will let you watch them become walkers, and then I will let them eat you alive.”

“Z-Zayn!” I said, shocked. What the fuck!? How could he say something so…so cruel? Kill children?!? Who the fuck was this and what did he do to Zayn? She crawled away from him; he just stood there and watched. She stood suddenly and produced a gun, everyone tensed up. She ran to the door and threw it open. She turned around and gave Zayn a look of rage, the gun pointed right at him.

“The only reason I’m not shooting you right now Zayn is because I will gladly let every single man woman and child die if it means I get to watch you suffer Zayn. I fucking dream about it Zayn, killing you now would be too quick…no, no I want you to suffer.  I swear to you, I will kill Harry right in front of you. I will kill Louis right in front of you. That Irish fucker you have hidden away just outside the farm, everyone you care for…” She suddenly looked right at me.

“And when they’re all dead, I’m going to make you watch as I cut open your buzzcut headed fuck’s  chest right in front of you and when I know you’ve suffered just as much as I did, I am going to let him eat you alive as a walker…this is war.” She ran out the door, I heard a truck start and suddenly that black truck was tearing away out onto the road. We all stood there, not moving an inch before Zayn turned back around, his face was covered in the blood of the armless guy who was now either unconscious or dead on the ground. Zayn stabbed the sword into the guys head before walking back over and handing it to me, guess that answers the unconscious or dead question.

 “Sorry, had to borrow it…” I took it and sheathed it before slapping him hard across the face. He looked a little stunned, Louis…Louis looked terrified, like I had done something incredibly dangerous. Zayn turned back at me, anger full in his face.

“Why did…” I slapped him hard again, he seemed bewildered.

“You fucking idiot.” I said, unable to help myself, anger had taken over.

“Excuse me?” He said. I tried to slap him again but he caught my hand in mid air.

“I see stupidity runs in your family.” I said, throwing all caution to the wind.

“You just declared war Zayn. That’s what you just fucking did…what the fuck were you thinking you fucking moron?! ‘Oh, if I threaten her she will forget all of this war business’. No Zayn, you fucking idiot! Your fucking sister clearly has some mental issues going on and she obviously really hates you…hate overpowers fear Zayn! And you just gave the perfect excuse to fucking attack us Zayn! You killed two of her people, and threatened to fucking murder all of them…” I tried to slap him again but he caught my other hand and I just stared at him.

“Why would you do that Zayn?! Huh?!? Why!!!???”

“Because I want her dead just as much as she wants me dead.” He said simply. I just stared at him, unable to comprehend what he was saying.

“W-what?”

“You fucking heard me.” He pushed me, I hit the barn wall and he crowded me up against it. I tried to push him away but he grabbed my neck and squeezed, making the fight die in me.

“You slap me again, I’m going to slap you right back…except a lot harder and double how many times you did it.” We were quiet, me still angry and scared and him still looking pissed off.

“I don’t know the full story yet Zayn…you need to explain all of this to me, now.”

“I will, when we get back…I’ll explain everything to you personally.” I stared at his blood splattered face and couldn’t help but think how damn sexy he was.

“It pisses me off so much how badly I want to kiss you.” I grumbled. He snickered.

“Funny, I was just thinking the same thing.”

“Sorry to break up…whatever the fuck this is, but we need to go.” Louis said. I stared at him; he didn’t look pissed off, which surprised me. Zayn basically just started a war, innocent people dying because two siblings want to literally torture and kill each other and yet he wasn’t angry.

“Was…was this the plan all along? To start a war?” Neither of them said anything, yet their silence spoke for them.

“Who knows?”

“Just Louis, Cher and I.” Zayn said.

“Why? I don’t…why Zayn? So many people are going to die…”

“Because Liam, you can...” Louis started.

 “Go to the car Louis, we will be right behind you.” Zayn interrupted, still keeping me pressed up against the barn. Louis nodded and walked out, leaving us alone.

“What do you want?” I said, still steaming with anger.

“You.” He said. I blushed as he suddenly reached under my shirt and started to squeeze and pinch at one of my nipples.

“What the fuck Zayn...” I whimpered, ashamed to say my cock was reacting rather quickly to just this small movement by him. He pressed his knee in-between my legs, forcing them apart and making me feel exposed. He reached down and unbuttoned and unzipped my pants. He casually reached in and grabbed my half hard cock and pulled it out.

“Zayn stop…” I whispered. He let go of my nipple and let his now free hand reach into my pants and he began kneading and squeezing one of my ass cheeks while his hand worked on my cock, stroking it to full length.

“Z-Zayn…” His face was pressed up against mine, I tried to turn but he just pressed his lips against my cheek, kissing the bone.

“Kiss me.” He commanded. I turned back to him, any thoughts I had before gone, all I knew was that I wanted him.

He kissed me and I kissed him right back.

I have to say, I never imagined my first time to be in a barn in the middle of nowhere with two fresh dead guys not 10 feet away.

“F-fuck Zayn.” I hissed as he bit into the point where my neck meets my shoulder. He bit down hard and started sucking at the skin; I could already tell that was going to leave a mark.

“Z-Zayn no marks, everyone will know…”

“Good, I never wanted to hide it anyway.” He chuckled against my skin, biting back down onto the mark. He let my cock go and put his other hand on my other ass cheek.

“Legs.” He mumbled, licking the mark he had been sucking. I got what he said and soon he had me lifted, my legs wrapped around his waist. I wrapped my arms around his neck and soon his lips were back on mine, the slight taste of copper on his lips.

“D-did you draw blood?” I said, stunned. He just laughed and kissed me harder, the bad pain soon forgotten as another sort of pain entered the frame. I felt a finger playing a bit with the sensitive bundle of nerves in my ass.

“Zayn…”

“Tell me you don’t want this and I’ll stop.” He said, almost making it sound like a challenge. He pressed his finger in just slightly; I yelped and covered my mouth.

“Quite down a bit Liam…” he chuckled against my mouth.

“I…I do want this but not here, it’s too dangerous…and there are fucking dead bodies 10 feet away from us.” He moved his head back and looked me over, an amused glint in his eyes.

“Ah…I suppose not very romantic is it?”

“No, not really.” I agreed. He let me down but stayed close, still pressed up against me. He knelt and grabbed my briefs and jeans and pulled them up for me. I buttoned and zipped them up and he watched me with an impassive look on his face.

“I still want you.” He mumbled against my lip. I kissed him lightly; he stroked my cheek with his hand.

“Later, once we’re alone in our cabin.” I said quietly. He smirked.

“You called it our cabin.” I blushed and looked away, he grinned.

“You’re so cute when you’re embarrassed Leeyum…”

“You just started a war Zayn; we need to tell people instead of sitting here embarrassing me…”

“I suppose we do…” He kissed me quickly then grabbed my hand and pulled me along with him. We rushed out to the truck, and soon were off back down the road. After we passed the trees, we were soon not alone anymore; Niall and the others were right behind us.

“So what exactly was the plan then? Since apparently you wanted this war, what are you guys going to tell everyone? I can’t imagine we would tell them the truth…”

“She attacked us and said she is going to attack the town, we have to get everyone together and get the town ready for battle…they cannot reach the fort, they wouldn’t be able to get in…but they could easily starve us out, we would all starve and she would win.” Louis supplied.

“Ok so basically stop them in town, or die slowly…”

“Basically.” Zayn said, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and turning to look out the window. I tried to ignore the warmth in my stomach I got when he touched me and the odd look Louis was giving us.

“How many are in our army?”

“Over half of our community, about 70 people.” Zayn said.

“How many does she have?”

“From what we could tell about the same, we haven’t seen or heard from them in a while…for all  we know she has more than us.” Louis supplied.

“But we’ve been trained right?”

“For the most part. Most of us are decent shots…others are better with hand to hand combat.” Louis said.

“Everyone will follow us?”

“Of course they will…they all know what’s at stake.” Zayn said.

“If we can just finish this now, we can expand our community a bit, maybe get the town back up and running. We never could before because we were afraid Doniya would come attack again and we’d have done all that hard work for nothing.” He continued.

“I get that it’s important, but I still just don’t understand why…”

“You will, once we get back I’ll tell you everything like I pro…” I felt a jerk as suddenly the world was filled with a loud ringing sound. I watched my world turn sideways and it took the glass cutting into my cheek and the loss of gravity to realize what had happened.

Someone rammed us with a car

We tumbled once, twice, three times before finally stopping with us upside down. My world went black for just a moment. I don’t know how long I was unconscious but I knew it couldn’t have been long.

“Fuck!” I cursed, my cheek was burning with pain, and my left shoulder ached. I heard gunfire, tires screeching, screaming, and more gunfire.

“Z-Zayn…” I undid my seat belt and fell onto some broken glass; I cursed my stupidity as I felt a sliver pierce my left arm. I pulled it out and crawled out a door that had already been knocked open, probably by Zayn, who (along with Louis) was no longer in the car. I stood on wobbly legs and pulled out Edge from the wreckage. I walked around and stared, unable to comprehend what was happening. I could see people scattered everywhere, people brandishing baseball bats and knives and guns and other assortments of weapons, all trying to kill each other. I watched a young girl (I recognized her from the fort) beating a young kid, not even 20 maybe 19 or 18, to death with the butt of her rifle. I watched someone I didn’t recognize slitting an old womans throat with an army issue combat knife. I didn’t know who was bad and who was good, nothing to distinct them, just people, just ordinary people killing each other.

I saw Niall fighting off 2 men in matching black bandanas, he was bleeding from his forehead and he was about to lose. I ran over, Edge already drawn. I impaled one of them and the other turned on me, that’s when Niall pulled out a knife and stabbed it into the top of his head. We pulled our weapons out at the same time and they fell in unison.

“Thanks buzzcut, really saved me there…”

“Where are Zayn and Louis Niall!?” I yelled over the screaming.

“I don’t know mate! We’ve only been fighting for like 10 minutes and everything has just gone completely mental…”

“Who’s the enemy Niall? They all look the same to me and I don’t know everyone from the Fort’s face yet.” I said. He nodded.

“Anyone wearing a black bandana somewhere on their body is an enemy mate, it’s just there thing I guess.” I turned and that was when I noticed it. Over half of the people still fighting had black bandanas somewhere on the body, either on their arm, leg, wrist, neck, somewhere.

“Alright…Niall start trying to get people out of here, and find Zayn and Louis…I’ll take care of this.” Niall stared at me.

“Mate they outnumber us, you really think…”

“Niall, if I lose control, take me down.” He just stared at me.

“Liam…”

“Promise me Niall!” I snapped. He nodded grimly.

“Promise mate…good luck, don’t die.” He ran off and I turned at the battlefield spanning the 20 feet between the road and the forest.

“Sophia…please forgive me for what I am about to do.” I mumbled to myself, a tear streaking down my face. I felt the adrenaline enter my veins, I let my instincts take over, black bandana, got it. I ran forward and cut off some guys hand off, removing his gun from the equation and saving a fort girls life.

“Run to Niall!” I snapped at her, she looked terrified but nodded and ran away, the guy was screaming so I cut off his head to shut him up.

“Drink up Edge.” I mumbled. One down, two dozen to go.

**Zayn**

The car getting hit was not something I had expected, but in all reality I probably should have.

“Liam.” I groaned, a sharp pain in my head. I had banged my forehead pretty badly in the crash but overall I had come out pretty much unscathed. I twisted my head, Liam was unconscious but breathing. I could hear gunfire erupting and I quickly tried to unbuckled myself.

“Zayn.” A voice mumbled. I turned my head, Louis was looking very dazed.

“What happened?”

“We got rammed, Doniya is attacking quickly it seems, she probably already had this planned before the meeting as a backup plan.” I groaned, falling down onto my side.

“Help me down.” He said. I unbuckled him and he fell down on his arm.

“Fuck!” He hissed.

“I think my arms broken Zayn fuck…” I kicked the door open and we both crawled out…to be met by some asshole with a shotgun pointed at us.

“Hands up Zayn.” The cock said, grinning like an idiot. Louis crawled out and stood, I let him lean on me while the cock stared at him.

“Anyone else in there?” I shook my head, good he couldn’t see Liam.

“No, no one just us.”

“Good, then follow me, I’m taking you to Doniya.” He gestured for us to walk in front of him, I got within two feet before I knocked the barrel away, dashed forward and slammed a fist into his face, snatched the gun away from him, and turned and blew his fucking head apart.

“You didn’t say please.” I chuckled darkly. I turned and made Louis throw an arm around my shoulder.

“I’m getting you away from here, and then I’m coming back for Liam got it?”

“What about Niall?”

“Niall can handle this, your arm is probably broken and you have a couple bad cuts Louis, you can’t help anyone in this state.

“I hate when you’re right…” He grumbled. We ran in a ditch for a while before finding a forested area. I handed him the gun.

“When you hear the gunfire stop, come back got it?” He nodded and I ran back down the same path back to the car…only to find it empty.

“Fuck Liam…” I heard a sudden loud scream, a scream of pure rage, and anger, and hate.

“Liam.” I said out loud. I ran, the gunfire had stopped, all I could hear now was screaming.  I got to the fight…and it was over, we had won.

Liam was in the middle, covered in blood, and all around him bodies, a mirror of that day he finished off the horde of zombies.

Except now he wasn’t finished

There were 5 of the enemy left, running away from the fight, retreating…from Liam. Our people had gathered by our cars, watching in horror as Liam ran after then, cutting down the retreating people. He was screaming, I watched him slash out and cut a woman’s back, she fell and he stabbed the sword into her head. He wasn’t treating them like people; he was treating them like walkers. Two of the runners got into a car…but just weren’t fast enough. He reached the driver’s side and slammed the sword through the window, right through his head. The other one started the car and drove like a wild man down the road. Only 2 were left, he cut down one like he was nothing and the other tried to fight him off with a tire iron. The man swung at Liam and Liam cut through the iron like it was paper, the man dropped it and started to beg. Liam grabbed him by the hair and cut his throat. I cringed and I heard someone crying on our side, everyone on our side was just staring, it was brutal to watch.

“Liam mate its over!” Niall said, I turned and stared at him. He had his rifle out, and he looked like he was ready to shoot.

Ah, I see

“Niall, that won’t be necessary.” I said, walking over to him. He turned, looking startled yet relieved.

“Zayn! Thank fuck, where is Louis?”

“Banged up but safe, is everyone…?”

“Mostly safe, we….we lost Cass and Dean but they lost a lot…a lot more, Jesus.” He was staring behind me.

“We have to stop him…” I turned, Liam was hacking away at the guy whose throat he cut.

“I’ll stop him, he’s just a little out of control is all…” I started to walk towards him.

“Liam!” I shouted. He turned on me…and at that moment I realized the mistake.

There was one guy left

He was short, had a face that probably made his mother weep, and he looked angry and absolutely terrified.

He also had a revolver in his hands

“H-hey!” He shouted, aiming it right at Liam. Liam turned on him.

“Put down the gun and I swear I will let you live.” I yelled. The guy laughed but still sounded scared shitless.

“It’s not you I’m worried about!” Liam still stood there, watching, waiting.

“I’m more worried about this sick psychotic fuck! What the hell even is he?!?” Liam suddenly took a step forward, the guy yelled, I screamed at him to not shoot, but he shot anyway. The bullet went through Liam’s shoulder; the sword fell out of his hand. The guy went to shoot again but it just clicked, that’s all he had.

“Liam!” I yelled.

Then he started laughing

It came on so quickly, suddenly Liam started laughing, he sounded crazed, excited, angry, so many different emotions put into a single laugh. He stopped suddenly and darted forward. He reached the guy in seconds and grabbed his throat; the guy screamed and started beating the gun into Liam’s head but not for long. Liam slammed the guys head into a car then kicked him square in his crotch, the guy fell forward and Liam started slamming his head into the ground. He just kept…just kept going, he was screaming in pain, he was so cut up and shot I didn’t know how he was still moving but he was, and he just…he just kept bashing that boys skull into the ground. I ran forward and grabbed onto him, I pulled him off and held him back as he suddenly started sobbing violently.

“Why didn’t you stop me?! Why didn’t you kill me?!” He cried, his hands shaking against himself. I pressed his face against my neck and let him cry, either from the pain or from the things he had done or both.

“We need to get you back alright? Liam? You’ve been shot; you’re losing a lot of blood…”

“I don’t remember!” He said, his voice broke at the end, he sounded so small.

“I know, I know you don’t.” I mumbled, stroking his hair as he sobbed.

An hour passed, we collected all of the weapons and anything the dead guys didn’t need and loaded them up into the cars. We ended up taking 2 of their cars because ours was fucked and I had to take a car with Liam alone…almost everyone sides Niall refused to be in an enclosed space with him. We picked up Louis and started on the drive home. Liam was silent next to me the entire trip, he was bleeding badly, his eyes were hollow, he had shut down…this was worse than when I had hurt him and he had refused to speak. When we got back things went into full alert chaos mode. Immediately we had people running at us, our ‘medic’ and about 10 others started treating the wounded while Niall barked orders at others to take weapons back to the weaponry, to close the gate, and well…to put it shortly I let him do his thing. Harry went to Louis first, demanding the medic help him first (which he refused because 2 others had been shot).

Perrie showed up at some point and helped me with Liam, we pulled out glass, poured rubbing alcohol on everything, and luckily she knew how to clean out bullet wounds. She started digging around and managed to snatch out the bullet, it should have put him in so much pain but he didn’t even flinch, he just kept staring with vacant hollow eyes.

“What the fuck happened Zayn?” Perrie asked.

“I’ll hold a town meeting in a few once everyone’s looked after…”

“I meant with Liam personally.” She said. I frowned.

“He…he killed a lot of people today.” She shook her head.

“Poor kid…you want me to look at that head wound?”

“It’s not bad, go help others they need it more than me.” She nodded and patted my cheek before leaving, though not before kissing Liam’s head and whispering something to him. I sat down next to him on the ground.

“What do you want to do?” I asked. He started crying again.

“Cabin.” I nodded in understanding.

“Are you gonna be ok by yourself?” I asked cautiously. He didn’t respond right away, after a minute he finally said.

“I just wanna sleep.”

“Alright.” I said. I helped him up and I grabbed his hand as we walked off for our cabin. I opened it and he followed me in. Neither of us spoke for a minute, I just watched him walk to his side of the bed. He stripped off his clothes, leaving him naked in front of me, usually this would do things to me but he was so sad and I was too concerned to really care. He laid down on his side (not the side that had a bullet wound in it mind you) and became still, the only way to tell that he was still alive was by the movement in his chest. I turned to leave.

“Did you tell Niall not to kill me?” I turned back around, he hadn’t moved.

“Ya, I did.”

“Why?”

“I wasn’t going to let you die just because you were killing trash.”

“They weren’t trash Zayn, they were people, human beings, just like you and I…” He sat up, his eyes were clouded over with…anger.

“Do you want me to tell you the story then? Why all of this…” I started.

“I don’t care Zayn.” He said suddenly. He stood up, not seeming to care that he was naked. He walked right up to me, right up to my face.

“What am I to you Zayn? Am I…am I your Liam? Or am I just some kid you think you can fuck and then send out to go on a killing spree when need be?”

“Where is this coming from?” I said, unable to keep the surprise off my face.

“You started a war Zayn…you wouldn’t have done that if you didn’t think you could win. You said you had been planning this for a while…and the only thing that’s changed in a while is me, you think…you think you can just…what? Send me out there and do what I did today? I don’t consider me going on an adrenaline fueled, psychotic killing spree a good thing, but what really scares me is that you do.” Tears streaked down his face.

“Do you know how badly I want you? Do you know…”

“Ya…I know how badly you want me.” I said quietly. He shook his head.

“I can’t…I can’t do this Zayn. I can’t be a weapon I can’t…I can’t be your Edge.”

“If you don’t, I don’t know if we can win this.” I said, and I meant it.

“So…I’m right, you were going to send me in there and have me go crazy.”

“After that day, when you saved all those people from the walkers, Cher, Louis, and I decided that you were the answer. Doniya has been a menace to us for so long…I knew we had to finish things with her but if it came to a straight up fight with her, I had no doubts we would lose simply because she out mans us…but you were our solution. We…we were going to have a covert mission, when the fighting started, you were going to lead a small group to flank them from behind, take them out, take her out…with her dead they are nothing.”

“They have guns Zayn…they would just gun me down.”

“Maybe…but they would run out of ammo eventually, when it turned into a melee fight, and it will, that’s when you would go…well, nuts. When you get like that, I doubt anything would be able to stop you…you saw that today. Most of these cuts and bruises all over you are from the fucking car crash Liam, you become unstoppable when you get like that…” I didn’t see the point in lying to him anymore, now was the time for the truth…I didn’t want to lie to him anymore. As much as I hate to admit it…I liked him, I liked him a lot.

“This all started when we got to town, Harry, Doniya and I…she met a guy while we were there, after only 2 months they decided they were going to get married. Josh was his name. I soon became leader of the leaderless people of the town because, well, the last leader had died. Should really thank Harry for that one, he was so likable, he managed to transfer all of that to me and well, here I am. But anyway, Josh didn’t like that I became leader…because he wanted to be leader. He always openly argued against whatever it is I decided to do…I wanted to come up here and clear out the fort, he said no mostly just because he was a spoiled child and didn’t get to be leader. The worst of it…the worst of it was that he started turning Doniya against me. She always agreed with him, we started arguing over everything, over big things over stupid small petty things. Finally, after 3 months of this, it all…it all came to a head.” I shook my head and sighed heavily before continuing.

“I decided I wanted to send some people up here to the fort, check out the situation and see how bad the walkers were. Josh of course argued that I should come up myself and not send people, that Simon, the old leader, always headed everything. Finally, I just agreed to shut him the fuck up. But, my condition was that he come along as well, along with Cher and Louis. The four of us came up here to the fort…it really wasn’t all that bad, about 2 dozen walkers all together. We cleared them all out easy enough…but that’s when things got bad. Just as we thought we got them all…one surprised us, bit Josh on the shoulder before we got him.” I shook my head.

“He…he wasn’t concerned because Doniya had shown him the scar by then. See, when this all started, the apocalypse I mean, she had been bitten, but it didn’t turn her. Apparently a bite isn’t enough…but you know that don’t you.” I knew the look of a healed walker bite mark anywhere; he had one on his back.

“Ya, I do know that.” He mumbled.

“But see, not everyone knows that…in fact, at the time the only ones who knew where Doniya, Josh, Harry, Louis, Cher, and I. A little bite, whatever it’ll turn into a scar and we can all move on…” I leaned against the front door and looked at him, I could already tell he knew where this story was headed, I just hoped he could see the shame and regret I felt whenever I thought about it, why I don’t like it when people talk about, why the only people who know this story are Louis, Cher and I.

“I said the bites too severe, you’re going to turn. He just laughed and asked what the hell I was talking about, I knew fully that that little bite wouldn’t kill him…but I pulled out my handgun anyway, I remember pulling it up and aiming at his face. Louis asked me what the hell I was doing, Cher…well Cher and I have always had this small connection when it came these kind of things, she didn’t say a word. I remember how everything just sort of…faded away, all I could really see was Josh’s face, that look of pure fear, he only managed to get out the word don’t before I pulled the trigger and a neat little hole appeared in the middle of his forehead.”

“Afterwards, I immediately started questioning everything…I hated him, I hated him so much because he was turning Doniya against me and he was just a thorn in my side and I guess I thought once he was gone everything would be fine…Doniya would grieve yes but she would forget it and move on…you have to try to do that in this world or it consumes you, twists you until the you before all this happened is long gone…we took the body back, Louis and Cher swore to secrecy, the official story was that he got bit and was already dead once I shot him…we did fuck with the bite a bit, made it look worse than it actually was…everyone believed us, except for Doniya.”

“She knew right away the whole thing was bullshit…she was so furious with me, she tried telling people but everyone just put it off as her being crazed with grief for her dead fiancé, you can thank Harry for convincing people to believe the crazed with grief story. A month went by, she didn’t speak to me or anyone sides Josh’s friends. That was when I found out she had been planning to revolt against me. We tried to confront her, that’s when the fight broke out and we won. I had to banish my own sister and a few others, she…she even left her teddy bear, the last bit of her I had.” I held back a sudden burst of emotion before continuing.

“She came back 3 months later; she had cleared out some of the city and claimed it as her own, once she and the few others who were banished with her did that, they started recruiting people, scavengers, desperate people just trying to find a place to call home…and once they joined her she managed to twist them into thinking we were the enemy, that we wanted to kill them…that I was pretty much the devil incarnate. I am a legend to them over there…I’m the villain who gunned down her poor fiancé in cold blood, and tossed her and her friends on the street…I’m the villain.” I started laughing, I felt tears fall down my cheeks; he looked stunned, probably because I never let myself get this vulnerable, wouldn’t be good if people knew just how fucking terrified I was.

“I am a fucking villain Liam. All of this because I killed a stupid fucking boy who got on my nerves, who I didn’t want to have to deal with anymore…I found out what I’m truly capable of that day.” I let my walls come back down; I let my hard guise come back on.

“I’m the villain Liam, I’m the antagonist, I’m…evil.” He stared at me; I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

“I...I’m sorry Zayn. I’m sorry about…about everything that’s happened but…but I can’t do what you want me to do. We all…we all have done some truly awful things Zayn, believe me I know…” His eyes glazed over for just a second, I had a feeling he was thinking about that Sophia girl.

“But…I don’t have a lot of humanity left Zayn, I…I can’t kill people anymore Zayn. Obviously walkers are a different matter but people Zayn, real honest to god breathing, living, laughing, loving, beautiful people. People with hopes and dreams and emotions and families and kids and moms and dads and  brothers and sisters…I can’t be the one who ends that, not anymore.”

“Ok…”

“And I…I can’t stay here anymore Zayn.” I frowned at him.

“Do…do you want your own cabin? Because I’m sure we can…” He shook his head, emotion already heavy in his eyes.

“No, Zayn…I can’t stay here, I can’t live in this fort anymore…I’m going to get my stuff together and…and get back on the road.” I stared at him, uncomprehending, he couldn’t be serious.

“L-Liam…”

“Zayn…I love you.” He said, tears fresh in his eyes.

“I love you Zayn, I don’t…I don’t know how it happened, how I managed to develop such strong feelings for you in such…such a short time but I did, and I can’t stay with you because you’re…you’re bad for me. You let me keep killing Zayn…you should have let Niall stop me but you didn’t, you let me keep killing…just like you planned on doing once the war started. I can’t be allowed to do that again…but you will always let it happen. You aren’t good for me…”

“Then…then we won’t be together and I’ll never make you do a god damn thing again, but just…just please don’t leave, don’t leave this, leave us…” He just shook his head, tears streaked down his face.

“No…No Zayn, I’m leaving…leaving tomorrow, I can’t be here, I can’t watch you all killing each other…if I had to see anyone die. If I had to watch Harry, or Niall, or…or…or you die I…I can’t lose someone I love again, I can’t do it Zayn, it’ll kill me.” I leaned forward and kissed him, he kissed back but I could tell his heart wasn’t in it.

“P-please don’t leave me…you’re so good Liam, you’re so…so good, I can’t lose you…”

“I love you Zayn…but this is it for us.” I leaned forward and kissed him harder, my need, and my desperation evident in my kiss. He tugged at my shirt and I pulled it off, his kisses let me know this was a one and only type of thing. That we both had to taste each other’s skin, had to be inside him, had to memorize the feeling, had to let him know how much I loved him when words failed me. I kicked off my shoes as our kisses intensified, our hands touching each other all over. I was glad he was already naked, I had full unrestricted access. He unbuttoned my jeans; I pulled them off along with my briefs. I kissed his neck, trying to avoid any of the various cuts and bruises on his body…except one bruise, the one I had left in the barn.

“Zayn…Zayn…” He kept whimpering my name as I sucked on the bruise, making it a deeper shade of love.

“I love you.” I whispered, kissing him harder.

**Liam**

I couldn’t help it

I couldn’t help falling into his kisses, his hands running all over my body. This man, this man who one minute would make me feel so loved, then the next minute he would hurt me all over again. He scared me, he excited me, I loved it, I loved him. Now here he was, kissing me and loving me and making me feel so wonderful…but when we were done what next? Another threat? Another promise to hurt me? I couldn’t be here with him anymore, I couldn’t be a part of his life, this life, this life of wars and death and abuse and love.

He picked me up and carried me to the bed; I felt his sharp teeth biting softly into the bruise from earlier. I had to know, I had to feel him, I had to have a piece of him…I had to remember this, after I was gone, away from this place, I had to remember him. He was always going to be there, in the back of my mind, always going to be a part of me…and why deny it? Why ignore these feelings he brought up in me?

“Liam.” He whispered. I was brought back to reality by his voice, his soft velvety voice. He looked so beautiful, his eyes blown, the slight wound on his head wasn’t even bleeding, but not even that little mar could distract from his beauty.

I had to remember this, once I was gone, I had to remember how beautiful his eyes are…how he was looking at me like I was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

“Tell me if I hurt you.” He mumbled, placing languid kisses to my jaw. I felt a sharp pain from the tight little bundle of nerves in my butt. I let out a hiss and he stopped immediately.

“Don’t stop.” I whimpered. He pushed one in fully, I cringed but said nothing, I didn’t mind the pain…I invited it. He hit something and my vision went white, the pleasure that engulfed me was a surprise. He hit that spot again, and again, then again once more. I felt precum dribbling from my cock, my eyes wide, and his eyes never leaving mine. After a couple minutes of this, he suddenly removed his fingers (I hadn’t even noticed he had 3 in me) and placed a kiss to my lips.

“Are you…ready?” He was unsure, that was a sharp contrast to how he usually acted.

“Please.” I said, my eyes suddenly fresh with tears. He grabbed my left leg and put it on his shoulder. I felt him press the head of his cock against my empty feeling bundle of nerves. He pushed in slowly, the sharp pain returned but I just gritted my teeth and ignored it…I wanted all of him.

“Fuck.” He groaned. He pushed in farther, I let out a gasp, and he was much bigger than 3 fingers. He kept going until all of him was in; I could feel the heat radiating from him.

“Please…Zayn please…” It was difficult to speak, my body was hurting all over but I didn’t want this to end.

“Please…” He pulled back, almost completely out, before suddenly slamming back in.

I swear to god I saw fireworks

He hit it perfectly, that spot in me, right on the money, a perfect shot. I cried out, my body hurt all over but the pleasure that just gave me made the pain insignificant. He pulled back and slammed right back in and once again he hit that spot perfectly.

“Gonna speed up.” He huffed. He left one arm on my hip while the other grabbed my cock and started jerking me off. He timed his thrusts with his strokes, an even pace that every time hit that sweet spot inside me.

“Faster.” I begged, I wanted release so bad but a part of me wanted this to last forever. He started planting kisses to the inside of my knee, never relenting in the rhythm he had made. He suddenly picked up speed, the thrusting of his hips and the stroking of my cock no longer in sync. His thrusting became erratic, the grip on my dick was almost painful but the pleasure his stroking gave me made it worth it. This continued for who knows how long, 5 minutes? An hour? An eternity? All I know is that the pleasure was too much; I felt the feeling rising up in me. The coil of pleasure in my stomach tightened. I was close; I was so, so close.

“G-gonna…” I couldn’t speak, words escaped me.

“Me too…inside or pull out?”

“Inside.” I said immediately. He nodded. Suddenly he stopped, just for a second, just to let my leg fall down, just so he could kiss me. He rammed into me as hard as he could, I cried out as my stomach was coated in white. He groaned against my jaw, I felt what seemed like a shooting pressure inside, I knew what it was.

“Don’t pull out yet.” I said.

“Just…stay in, just for a little bit.”

“Ya…I know.”

Not sure how much time passed, before I knew it he was out of me though and I felt empty inside. He stood up and walked to the bathroom. A minute later he was wiping me up with a towel, and then cleaning himself off.

“None of your wounds opened up so that’s…good.” I didn’t respond, he ran fingers through his hair and kept staring at me.

“Sleep, I’ll see you in a while…I have to go tell everyone the news.

“Ya…ya I know.” I said, staring into those sad eyes.

“When you wake up tomorrow, all of your stuff will already be together, and you can take one of the cars before you go.”

“You don’t…”

“Shut up Liam.” He said suddenly. I stared, unable to keep the surprise off of my face.

“Go to sleep.” That hard faced, dark Zayn was back…but he couldn’t hide it, he couldn’t hide the pain in his eyes.

“Ya…I will.” I said, crawling up the bed. I got under the covers; I pulled Doniya’s bear out from under the covers and pressed him up against my chest. I watched Zayn get dressed and walk out the door.

I cried into the bear until exhaustion took me and my world faded to black.

**Zayn**

Why did it feel like daggers in my chest when he told me he was leaving? Why did…why did I say I love him? Do I love him? Was something like that even possible? I’ve only known him for a couple of days and yet every time I looked at him all I wanted to do was kiss him.

But…despite all of that, maybe he’s right to leave. Maybe being away from me would be for the best. I’m broken, I agreed to use Liam…to use him to fight my battle for me, to kill my sister because I’m too much of a coward to do it myself.

_He should stay away from me, he should leave, he should live and I should die_

I stared, I was in the square, all around me people were still moving, people were still running around trying to help wounded, Niall was still barking orders, all of these people, all of these people dying and hurt and scared…because of me, because I fucked up, because I killed Josh…

_They shouldn’t have to suffer because of my mistakes_

Doniya…Doniya is my problem; Doniya is the result of my sins, the result of that darkness inside me that kills people, that darkness that tried to use Liam, my Liam, and my beautiful Liam who is going to leave me because I pushed him to that point.

“No more.” I whispered out loud.

“No more.”

_No one else is going to suffer because of me_

“Niall.” I said. He turned around and gave me a tired half smile.

“Everything is a bit hectic but I got it…”

“I need the key to the armory, you still have it right?” He seemed surprised but nodded and handed it to me.

“Mind if I ask why…”

“Just want to check all the weapons is all…” I put a hand on his shoulder; I gave him a small smile.

“You’re a good mate Niall, thank you for everything.” He seemed royally confused.

“I…thank you man.” I nodded at him and continued on my way. I walked into the armory, it was empty. I grabbed a big black duffel bag and started to fill it. I put my favorite shotgun in along with a box of shells, a handgun, already loaded with two extra clips, and a sniper rifle with scope and two boxes of rounds. I also decided to toss in 3 of the 8 hand grenades we had, a large baseball bat, and a fire axe.

“That’s a lot of weapons Zayn my dear.” I stood up and let out a deep sigh.

“No Cher.” She just laughed.

“Zayn…I know what you’re doing, had to go clean up that little mess with Niall you just made, let him know nothing’s wrong.” She walked around and patted my cheek.

“Zayn, I was there, I let it happen Zayn, I let you kill Josh because I knew it needed to be done, and because I knew sooner or later he would have revolted anyway and tried to become the new leader. Doniya didn’t just happen because of you…she happened because you, Louis, and I decided the best course of action was death…so don’t you dare think you get to go out alone and try to take care of all of this on your own.” Damn, how does she always know what I’m thinking?

“How do you do that? How did you know what I was doing 5 seconds after I thought it up?”

“What can I say Zayn? I’m just as fucked as you are, we mother fuckers have to stick together right?” She grabbed my hand and kissed my lips, just a peck. This wasn’t the kind of kiss lovers share; this was the kiss of friends, kindred spirits in a fucked up world.

“So Zayn, I’d say we should invite Louis too but what with the broken arm and all…plus we can’t take him away from Harry, Harry is too good of a person to have something like that happen to him.”

“Agreed…you know we probably aren’t coming back right? You know this is a suicide mission?” She just grinned.

“Course I do Zayn my dear…so what do ya say? Ready to go fuck up the world?” I nodded.

“We kill Doniya, without her the group will fall apart and everyone in the fort…everyone here can live in peace, finally.” She laughed.

“Well, as peaceful as you can get in the apocalypse.” She said. She grabbed her own bag and started loading up some guns of her own, including her favorite weapon, a black rifle with a scope and silencer attached.

“So, how do we get out of here? We can’t really just walk out the front door…”

“You won’t be leaving at all.” A voice suddenly said. We both whipped our heads around, a head of curls was all I needed to see for my stomach to drop.

“Harry…”

“I heard…I heard all of it.” He said, tears in his eyes.

“Zayn why…why didn’t you ever tell me? Doniya…Doniya was right all along? You killed Josh? You…you’re the reason all of this…”

“Ya…ya I am Harry.” I said, my chest tightening. Of all the people in this world I could hurt, only 2 made it on the list of people that if I hurt them I would want to hurl myself off a wall in penance. One was asleep in my cabin; the other had a head of curls and was standing right in front of me.

“But Harry…no more.” I said. He stared.

“What?”

“No more, no one else…no one else has to suffer because of me…”

“Because of us…I was there too Zayn. And before you blame Louis Harry, I just want you to know he protested the whole thing, and you really shouldn’t blame him.” Cher said. Harry looked so pained.

“Zayn…you can’t, I know what you are going to try to do, this suicide mission…you can’t. I won’t let you do this.” I walked right up to him and I hugged him.

“Harry…I just want you to know that I love you and you are the best mate I’ve ever had. Thank you, thank you for everything.” I then grabbed his head and slammed it into the wall. He collapsed over, unconscious.

“Z-Zayn.” Even Cher was surprised.

“He will be fine; he’ll just wake up with a massive headache. He won’t be out for long though, we have to go now.” She nodded and walked over and kissed Harry’s head.

“Goodbye love.”  We both strolled out of the cabin. We speed walked over to the cars, everything had calmed now, people were still out and about, some seemed to notice us but we ignored them. We both got into a jeep and pulled up to the front gate.

“Zayn? Cher? What are you guys doing?” Niall said, surprised.

“We are going into town and are gonna clear out any walkers there…make sure there aren’t any hordes out and about when the fighting starts.”

“Ya…Louis explained everything. Fuck Zayn a war…”

“I know Niall, but don’t worry, we can win, I promise you mate.” He nodded.

“Alright, but be careful out there, and don’t be out too long it is gonna be dark in an hour or two…”

“I know…” He waved up at someone on the top of the wall and suddenly the gates were open.

“See ya soon mate.” Niall said. I nodded at him and patted his cheek.

“Ya, see ya mate.” I drove us out and Cher sighed next to me.

“Gonna miss that Irish fucker…he’ll never know I sort of had a little crush on him.” She mused next to me, I just shook my head.

“Ah well, no room for regrets right?” She nodded thoughtfully.

“No, none at all.” We were silent then, my thoughts turned back to what we had to do, what we were going to do.

Kill Doniya, and end the war before it even begins

Maybe…maybe then that darkness inside me will go away, maybe then I can be at peace…

Maybe then he’ll stay with me

Because maybe I am the villain…but that doesn’t mean I can’t try to be a hero

 


	4. Few and Far Between

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Sorry this took so long! I would have posted this like a week ago but unfortunately my computer decided to say 'NO GO FUCK YOURSELF' and my screen broke, so i had to get a new one online and just...ya, it sucked but its resolved and am here to post this chap! This is the finale. A lot of shit happens, thats your chap summary. Anywho I hope you enjoy the story and please comment I love feedback! (But only good feedback, hahahahahaha.....I'm half joking)

# 

_"Every act of creation is first an act of destruction."_

_-Pablo Picasso-_

**_Finale:_ ** **_Few and Far Between_ **

**Liam**

“Liam?”

“H-Hey Sophia…”

**3 years ago**

“L-Liam? It…it hurts…”

“Leave her, she’s done for…” I turned on my Uncle Paul, the fury evident in my eyes.

“Don’t fucking speak! This is all your fault!” He just laughed.

“Oh, is it? I told your stupid girlfriend not to come in here, to ignore that screaming woman…and what did she do? She ran in here, and got a big chunk of her neck ripped off by walkers…”

“JUST SHUT UP!!!” I snarled at him. He just shook his head.

“Little idiot…” He had never liked her; it’s why he didn’t care. He had just stood by while Sophia got attacked, he didn’t help until she had already been bit.

“She doesn’t matter…look she’s already dead.” I froze and turned, she had bled out, she had stopped moving.

“Now come on, we need to get out of this warehouse before…”

It was all his fault, all…all his fault…

I screamed, I screamed and turned and rammed my knife into his chest. He looked so surprised, before he could speak I rammed it into his head and he was gone.

I lost her; I lost her because of him

I screamed even louder, I kept stabbing the blade into his chest, over and over and over again. Screaming all the time…

If I hadn’t been screaming, I might have heard the moaning, the dragging noises. I felt sharp pain in my back. I yelled in pain and jumped away. Sophia was suddenly up, her head limp, her body no longer her own. The door suddenly burst open, more were piling in. I grabbed the sword off my dead uncle and watched in disgust as they forgot about me and started eating his body. I could feel the blood dribbling down my legs, my body felt heated, I felt sick. I pulled out the sword, my vision blurred, everything went red, my mind went blank, and all I could see was Sophia, sweet, beautiful, smiling, loving, bleeding Sophia…

**Present**

“Liam, wake up, wake the fuck up!” A voice growled at me. My eyes drifted open, how long had I been out?

“Harry?” I mumbled, rubbing sleep from my eyes.

“What are…” He yanked me out of bed, I yelped in pain.

“Ow!” I yelled, that was when I noticed the bump on his forehead, it was a bad looking bruise and seemed slightly swollen.

“Sorry, but you need to get dressed, right the fuck now, we don’t…” The door suddenly busted open; someone I didn’t recognize was standing at the door, a baseball bat in hand. He screamed and ran at us, Harry pulled out a gun and fired, the guy collapsed.

“What the fuck!?” I yelled.

“We’ve been invaded, get dressed! I got your sword and some weapons…” I quickly pulled jeans and a black T shirt. He gave me Edge and my combat knife. Then he handed me a revolver and over a dozen bullets. I put the bullets in my pocket and tucked the gun into my jeans.          

“We got betrayed, one of our own was working for fucking Doniya and opened the gate for Doniya’s men, we are fighting them off but…a lot of us are being taken prisoner, I managed to grab some guns and your stuff and high tailed it here…but you and I can’t fight them on our own..” He grabbed my hand and we were out the front door. We dived around the house, I could see the gate, I could see a lot of our people (including Niall) being herded into the small clearing in front of the gate. Surrounding them were over a dozen men and women with guns.

“Where’s Zayn?” I asked. To my surprise he didn’t say a word, we just kept running. We reached the back of the fort, near the small gardens where they grew a lot of the veggies and fruit.

“Harry where are we going?!” I snapped at him. His grip tightened and he turned on me.

“We’re going a secret way…we’re getting you out of here.” I just stared at him.

“But Harry I don’t understand! Where is Zayn? Who betrayed us? Why are you getting me out of here…” We reached the back of the wall, he felt around the wall for a second before finding what he was looking for…a key hole. He put the key in and twisted then pushed, part of the wall gave and it opened into a small room. He pushed me inside and got in with me, the room was tiny, anymore than 3 people and it would be too crowded. He closed the door behind us and suddenly it was pitch black. Before I could say anything he flicked on a lighter and lit a candle. He walked past me to the opposite wall to where we had just walked in and put the key into the wall.

“Harry!” I yelled again. He stopped and turned, a sad look in his eye.

“Liam…this isn’t your problem, you never asked to be here and you dying with us…I can’t allow that. When I open this door you run, keep going straight for about 2 miles and you’ll find an old truck. It’s filled with gas already…” He tossed me a car key.

“Take the truck and drive away, the road is just a few yards away from the truck, go down that road and don’t stop, it’ll take you…it’ll take you far away from here.” I just shook my head.

“Harry…”

“Zayn’s gone Liam.” Harry said. I just stared at him; it felt like I had been stabbed through the heart.

“He…he’s…gone?” Harry gave me a sad look.

“He left with Cher to go kill Doniya; he knocked me out so I wouldn’t try to stop him in the weapon cabin. When I woke up, I heard yelling and gun shots. I looked outside and…we were being taken. Eleanor, do you remember her? She was working for Doniya the entire time, feeding her information and finally let a small group of them in…to hold us hostage I guess until Doniya gets here…but Doniya isn’t here, which means Zayn must be distracting her somehow, or she’s dead already, I honestly have no idea…but it doesn’t matter now, you have to leave, I have to stay and…figure out something.” I stared at him, he looked so sad, Harry was so sweet, so kind…I could see that killing people didn’t suit him, he was too good of a person, but his family was in danger and he didn’t have a choice, I could see it weighing him down even now, the burden of ending a human life.

I should take his advice, I should leave…I had planned on leaving anyway; why not just take the chance he was giving me? Run and get a car and drive far away, away from all of this death, away from this pointless, stupid war, away from...Zayn. Zayn who was going to use me, who let me kill, who…who left on his own to go kill Doniya, who decided to carry the weight of her death and the lives of all of these people on his shoulders.

Zayn who begged me not to go

Sophia…I can’t stop, not just yet. One more, one more bloody trial, then I will never kill again, I don’t have a choice in the matter...my family needs me.

“Harry, if you think I would leave my family to fend for themselves…you’re mistaken.” I tossed him the keys back.

“You can’t…”

“Harry, I love you, but shut the fuck up.” I said, grinning at him.

“Family sticks together right? I can’t just abandon all of you…” I clenched and unclenched my sweaty hands.

“I’ve lost too much Harry. You, Niall, Louis, Cher, Perrie, and Zayn. Harry I lost so much 3 years ago. I lost my entire family, my friends, my…my Sophia. I can’t do it again; I won’t lose anyone else, not while I’m still breathing.”   He didn’t seem to know how to react at first…but he looked into my eyes, saw how serious I was, and then chuckled.

“Guess I don’t have a choice…” He looked me in the eye again.

“Alright Liam. We have to go kill over a dozen people, go find Zayn, Cher, and Doniya, then bring those two home so I can kick both of their asses.” I just grinned.

“You know the odds are stacked against us…we can get shot, we can die.” Harry smirked.

“Hey, maybe they have pizza in heaven.” I smiled.

“We can only hope…you ready?” We clasped hands.

“I’m fucking ready as I’ll ever be.” I turned, a funny thought coming into my head.

“Hey Harry…you said there is a car waiting out there?”

“Ya? What…” He got an amused grin on his face all of a sudden, reading my thoughts.

“Oh… _oh.”_

**Zayn**

“See her yet?” I mumbled.

“No…not yet.” Cher said. She had a frown on her face.

“Whats wrong?” I asked.

“Something seems…off.”

“Ah…you noticed too.”

“It’s too quiet.” She said, confirming my suspicions. We were on a small hill just outside the city, from here we could clearly see the apartment building and warehouse that Doniya had claimed as her own. I looked through my binoculars.

“See the apartment building? It looks deserted…and the warehouse only has one guard outside.” She said. She was looking through the scope of her rifle, in complete and total concentration. I had to admit she was one of the best snipers I had ever seen…she made a lot of the TV and movie ‘snipers’ look like jokes.

“Zayn we need to do something, I hate just waiting here…let me provoke them a bit, I can take that guy out, draw some of them out, maybe even Doniya herself…” I had to admit it was a tempting plan…and drawing them out would give us a good idea of their numbers.

“Do it…” the second the words were out of my mouth she fired, I jumped about a foot then quickly checked the scene with my binoculars. The guard was now on the ground, half of his head was gone.

“You must have been a sniper in another life.” I chuckled. She laughed.

“I never told you about my dad did I? He took me shooting a lot as a kid…I was an army brat.”

“Didn’t realize that was something you could learn…”

“Well rifles were always my favorite so he took me shooting a lot…hey movement.” She said. I quickly pulled up my binoculars. I felt my blood freeze slightly, Doniya, alone. She was looking down at the body, to my surprise she didn’t look shocked or worried…she looked almost…amused. She looked around before turning and I swear it was like she was looking right at us. She grinned, and then said something.

“What is she saying?” Cher asked. I frowned, I had always been able to read lips and Doniya knew that.

“She…she said ‘I’m alone, come and get me’.”

“Oh, didn’t realize you could read lips.” Cher said.

“Not a lot of people do…just Doniya actually; she knows it’s me…”

“Zayn, this is more likely than not a trap…I mean come on. ‘I’m alone’, seriously?”

“I know Cher…” I stared into the binoculars, Doniya was just sitting there, staring at us…from this distance there was no way she could see us but it was still unnerving. Cher sighed.

“You aren’t just gonna let me blow her brains out right now are you?”

“No…I have to be the one to kill her, and you know I’m a shit shot with a rifle.” Cher sighed once again.

“We’re going down there aren’t we?”

“You don’t have to…”

“Of course I don’t _have_ to.” Cher said.

“I’m going because I want to…we’re in this together Zayn.” I nodded at her.

“I really don’t deserve a friend like you.”

“No, you really don’t.” Cher chuckled.

“Alright, lets pack up…we’re gonna go finish this.”

“One thing is bothering me though…why is she alone? We couldn’t have killed all of her men on the road, Louis said some managed to escape…where are those men?”

“Guess we will find out soon enough.” I responded.

**Louis**

I was having a shitty fucking day

“Where is Liam?!” That cunt Eleanor growled, slapping me once again.

“Leave him alone you bleeding traitor!” Niall snapped from the crowd. One of Doniya’s goons walked forward and punched Niall in the jaw; he fell back into the group of people, our people, but didn’t look hurt, if anything he just looked more pissed off.

“So, what did Doniya promise you eh? What made Miss Eleawhore go to the dark side?” I asked, wanting to distract her from killing people and focusing on talking. Eleanor just smiled down at me. She had one of her goonies grab a chair out of the cabin, then decided to tie me up…wouldn’t be the first time, god damn Styles.

“She promised me revenge. None of you ever seemed to really check my background. My brother was killed in the battle; he was on Doniya’s side, at the time I didn’t know whose side I should be on, but when I watched my brother being shot to death by your side that pretty much made my decision for me. And would you like to know who killed him?” She got right in my face; she pressed her lips to my ear.

“You did.” She got a dark look in her eyes; I felt my body tense…ah shit.

“Do you even remember killing him? Or was he just another face among dozens?” I was ashamed to say I didn’t remember him, after that battle I tried not to think about the people I killed, and I guess after a while I just forgot their faces all together.

“Do you!?!” She stared into my eyes, the fury evident in her face.

“No…no I don’t.” She grinned cruelly.

“I didn’t think so…” She walked past me (I had expected her to hit me or something but was pleasantly surprised when she didn’t) and I could hear her talking to someone quietly, it was hard but I could hear her.

“Did you find Liam or Harry yet?”

“We checked the main house, all we found was Glen’s corpse, I think Harry must have grabbed Liam and ran.” An older sounding man said. I grinned to myself; my Harry was so fucking great.

“Ha, sucks to suck bitch.” I chuckled back to her.

“Shut it murderer.” She growled, hitting the back of my head hard.

“Whatever you say traitor.”

“Say one more fucking word you stupid shit!” That last part came out as a scream. That was when I head it, a noise I didn’t expect to hear but welcomed once I saw the source.

“Oh? I’m the stupid one…you didn’t even do your job properly!!!”

“What?” she said, confused.

“You had one job and you fucked it up…you left the front gate open you moron!” She twisted her head and realized her mistake, but too late.

A big red truck ran right over her

Harry was driving the getaway truck; Liam was in the bed of the truck, firing off his revolver and taking out the goonies with guns.

“BLOODY RIGHT!!!” Niall roared. He jumped up and ran into the guy who had punched him, knocking the man onto the ground and beating him to a pulp. He picked up the man’s rifle and started firing. Before the rest of Eleawhore’s goonies could even react the people revolted and it was beautiful. They quickly overpowered all of her men, overpowering them until we had the guns, and they were the prisoners.

“Get that door closed! Tie up these guys; we’ll let Zayn decide what to do with them!” Niall said, grinning like a kid on Christmas. I felt hands over my own, hot breath against my ear.

“God I love it when you get yourself tied up for me.” My curly haired headache purred against my ear.

“Harry, you have about 5 seconds…”

“Oh calm down Lou I’m going, but I’m saving the rope for later, deal?” How could I even begin to think I could say no to him?

“Deal.” I chuckled, twisting my head to meet his lips. He placed a lingering, heated kiss to my lips before giving a painful tug, letting my hands free.

“You alright mate?” Liam asked, walking up behind Harry.

“Now I am, thanks to you and Harry.” I kissed Harry again because why not, he had earned them.

“Zayn…isn’t with you?” I asked, frowning.

“No…you know I got to say that felt much too easy.” Harry said, frowning.

“Ha…hahahaha….” The three of us turned, I couldn’t keep the surprise off my face.

“Jesus you’re still kicking it? We hit you with a truck, just die already Eleawhore!” Harry growled. I laughed.

“Hey that’s the nickname I came up with for her!”

“Really? That is so cool…” Harry giggled.

“Oh god Liam just put me out of my misery please…” She said, blood dribbling down her mouth.

“Why were there so few of you? Why isn’t Doniya with you? Answer me that and I’ll make sure you don’t turn into…one of them.” Liam said, frowning. She shook her head.

“This is…all we had. Doniya and 2 others stayed behind but we…we are…it…” She let out a heavy breath, a death rattle if I had ever heard one, it made me shiver.

“Why didn’t Doniya come herself?!” Liam snapped at her.

“She…she saw two outcomes. Zayn stays here and once we capture the Fort we send for her and she comes herself…or…Zayn…would come after her…alone…and if he did she knew…this would be her only shot to get him alone, to…kill him…”

“But why? Why would she be so sure she could win by herself?!” She just chuckled.

“You should know Liam…you’re just like her.” She reached out and snatched his wrist.

“Zayn won’t shoot her, he won’t, that’s the light in him, his weakness…if they fight, Doniya _will_ kill him.” Liam’s eyes suddenly lit up, panic, fear, and understanding.

“Oh? You just figured it out didn’t you? Better hurry...” Liam pulled out a knife, she stared at him.

“You are gonna need a bigger knife.” She cackled as he plunged it into her forehead, ending her forever.

“Liam? What was she…?” I started.

“I…I think I know what she meant. If she meant what I think she meant then...we need to go, _now._ ”

“Ok where…”

“Lou you can’t, not with that leg…but I have to go too, I…I want to try to talk to Doniya.” Harry said, his brow furrowed.

“No Harry you can’t go, I won’t…” I started immediately. The truth was, I didn’t like even imagining Harry leaving the Fort. He was the most precious thing in my life and thinking about anything bad happening to him…

“Lou, you leave all the time with Zayn, you are in no condition to go anywhere, and Liam doesn’t know where we are going.”

“Well neither do you! Do you even know where her base is? Besides ‘in the city’?”

“I…no.” Harry said.

“Well I do!” A voice piped in. Niall slung an arm around my shoulder.

“And before any of you even dare to argue taking me, Lou here and Perrie can keep things going while the three of us go save Zayn’s sorry ass and Cher’s fine ass.” Niall grinned, the horny Irish bastard.

“Well, guess that settles it.” Harry said. I couldn’t stop the worry for Harry that was gnawing at the pits of my stomach. I was worried for everyone else of course, Cher was one of my best friends and Zayn was like a brother to me, but Harry…my worry for him outshone them all.

“Harry…” He kissed me over and over while saying ‘I’m gonna be fine’ in-between each kiss.

“Fine, not like I can stop you anyway…” He kissed me again.

“Ok glad we got that taken care of; we need to go though, like, right this second.” Liam said, the worry etched in his face.

“Hurry up boys! Walkers are gonna get in!” Perrie yelled at the top of the wall. She was waiting for them to go so she could close the gate.

“Liam!” I yelled. Liam turned around, his hand on the door handle of the car.

“Don’t judge Zayn to harshly…he’s only doing what he thinks is right. You know why he left right? He left for a lot of reasons. To protect everyone, to wrap up unfinished business…and you, to make sure you didn’t have to fight anymore…he really does love you.” Liam had a funny look on his face, I couldn’t quite figure out what was going through his head at that moment. Soon though a smile crossed his face.

“Well, the feelings mutual.”

 The three of them piled into the truck and soon they were gone. Perrie closed the gate and came to stand next to me while I stared at the now closed gate.

“Harry thinks he can talk to Doniya…” I mumbled. Perrie shook her head.

“Bit late for that don’t you think?”

“If anyone could do it, it would be Harry.” I said. A frown crossed my face.

“But after all we’ve done…after seeing her in that barn…no, no this is only ends one way…with someone dead.”

“Louis I heard a bit of what you boys were talking about…what had Liam so spooked? What did Eleanor mean?” I shook my head.

“I’m not sure; I mean…she said the two of them are just alike. Now personality wise they are completely different…so I think she meant literally.”

“Oh?” Suddenly it dawned on me what they shared in common…but what did that have to do with anything?

“What do they share in common Perrie?” I said. She frowned.

“I dunno…” It dawned on me, she didn’t know about Doniya, about Liam.

“Ah…well it’s a long story.”

**Zayn**

“Well brother!! Good to see you” Doniya giggled, grinning madly. She glared at Cher.

“Oh. You.”

“Nice to see you too bitch.” Cher growled.

“Ah well, didn’t realize you would be here…you wouldn’t mind waiting out here would you?” Cher and I stared at her, she just sighed.

“Figured not. Eh, alright come into my humble abode.” She said, turning and walking inside. Cher turned to look at me; I shared a silent stare with her before pulling out my knife and walking behind her.

The warehouse was bare

The entire thing was literally just one gigantic open space covered in nothing but a fine layer of dust. There were stairs leading up to a catwalk that circled the entire square room. The place had large glass windows all around the top of the room, also circling the room. That was when I noticed melee weapons against the wall. Baseball bats, a sledgehammer, a large collection of knives on a cheap round white plastic table, a pair of fire axes, and to my surprise 2 sheathed katana.

“So Zayn, I think we both know why you are here…”

“Where is everyone?” I said. She stood in the middle of the room and smiled.

“So now is the part where you and I fight to the death eh? Well I have a couple conditions.”

“You really aren’t in the position to be making conditions.” Cher said.

“True I suppose. But see, I want my fight to the death Zayn. Just you and I…how about a bit of swordplay eh? Or we could just beat each other with baseball bats or try our hand at axes…”

“Why shouldn’t I just shoot you right now?” Cher growled. Doniya laughed.

“Because sweetheart, you shoot me, my colleague…” Suddenly all the lights turned on in the room, a man in full swat team gear was standing on the cat walk above us. He was brandishing a shotgun and in his free hand a black walkie talkie.

“See that man up there? He has a walkie talkie, connected to my good friend Eleanor. All he has to do is give the order. She and the rest of my people will then proceed to kill every single fucking person in the fort.”

“Eleanor?!” I said, stunned.

“Oh, didn’t know she worked for me did you? Ya, turns out her brother was on my side during the battle. She actually came to me! Can you even believe it? She’s wanted you dead since the last battle and you didn’t even know it!” She grinned.

“So Zayn, you don’t play by my rules, my friend up there gives the order, and then everyone you love dies. Would that be worth it? Doing the easy thing and putting a bullet in me? That would be kind of counterproductive of what you want to happen right?”

Fuck, she had me cornered

“Prove it. Prove you aren’t just bluffing.” Cher scoffed.

“Oh darling? Could you get Eleanor for me?” He pressed a button, mumbled a few words, and then words filled the warehouse.

“Doniya?” I recognized her voice, it truly was Eleanor.

“Eleanor darling, I’m just checking in, how’s the takeover going?”

“All done, I have Louis tied up to a chair, the rest are our prisoners…”

“Oh perfect! And I am looking at Zayn right now!” Doniya said, laughing. Eleanor started laughing.

“That’s all for now love, I’ll keep you posted.” The man turned off the walkie talkie and she smiled at me.

“So Zayn. The rules. Just you and I, no interruptions from anyone. My man will not randomly shoot you in the fight, even if you are about to stab me in the head with that kitchen knife over there. If I even see that bitch behind you lift a finger to shoot me or my friend then all he has to do is press a button and say the word go and Eleanor kills everyone.” She took a breath before grinning at me, looking so fucking excited, made me slightly nauseous.

“You kill me, my man up there tells them to leave the fort and they will leave forever. No one has to die and you all live happily ever after…if I win, I kill you and Cher right now then I will personally bring back your severed head to show all of your family and then I will kill them one by one…and then I’m going to have some fun with that Liam boy of yours.”

“How do I know your ‘friend’ won’t just order them killed once I kill you?” I said.

“You don’t! But you shouldn’t worry; I’m not a lying, murdering, power hungry thug like yourself. I actually keep my word.”

“Zayn…” Cher mumbled warningly.

“You know what? Fine, this is how you always wanted it to end anyway right? One of us kills the other…well I’ll play your fucking game.” She grinned.

“Exactly what I wanted to hear brother dearest…” She gestured to the table.

“Take your pick.” I held up my combat knife, my fingers clinched through the knuckle guard.

“I’m good.”

“Oh goodie, glad we finally agree for once.” She walked over to the table and grabbed three knives. All were combat grade black knives with knuckle guards. She dropped one and kicked it to me. I picked it up and wrapped my fingers around it. She glared at Cher.

“You go stand against the wall.”

“Fuck you.” Cher hissed.

“Do what she says Cher.” I said to her, taking off my jacket, leaving me in a white T shirt and Jeans. I kicked the jacket away and Cher grudgingly went to go lean against the wall. She laid the rifle down and stood next to the bag full of weapons. Her hand resting on her pistol.

“So Zayn…” Doniya said, stretching a bit while she walked to stand opposite me in the middle of the room.

“Since this only ends in one of us dead…will you tell me the truth finally? For once in your fucking life, will you tell me the truth? You killed him didn’t you? You murdered him?” I stared into her pleading eyes, suddenly it wasn’t this horrible evil hate filled Doniya, it was my sister, my sister who loved and cared and dreamed and hoped.

“Ya…ya I killed him Doniya, I killed him because it was the easy thing to do. And for the record? I don’t regret it. He was turning you against me, he was a thorn in my side and I hated him. Did he deserve to die? No. Did he need too? Yes. My only fucking regret is what his death did to you…and for that I’m…” I watched her eyes turn so sad, so broken.

“I’m sorry.” I said. She stared, a broken look on her face, a tear fell down her face.

“Do you want to know something Zayn? You should have killed me. You…you should have killed me too, because that’s all I am right? A thorn in your side? I’ve turned against you? Killing me then would have been the easy thing to do right?”

“No Doniya, killing you would and never will be ‘easy’.” She suddenly turned cruel again, that last glimpse into her sanity had run up, all that was left was the monster I had created, this monster made of hate and darkness and my sins.

“I’m going to do the easy thing Zayn, for both of us. I’m going to end your life, make you repent for everything you have ever done.”

“And I’m going to fix my mistakes Doniya, I’m going to destroy the monster I’ve created…you.” She roared at me then started running. I dodged the swipe at my neck and danced backwards. She kept slashing wilding at me, I easily dodged but she was going to corner me against the wall soon, I had to move. I sidestepped to the right and slashed out. I caught her shoulder but it was only a light cut, she managed to get away. I ran after her and our knives met, she slashed out with her other knife and I moved my head back but not quick enough, she caught my cheek and I felt the blood dribbling down my cheek.

But now I had an opening, I slashed out and she jumped away, but I managed to cut through her tight black tank top and left a nasty cut to her stomach. She gripped at it and stared at the blood covering her hand. She suddenly started laughing.

“So Zayn, this is fun, let’s keep going shall we?” I hid it, but I couldn’t help but feel surprised. That cut to the stomach should have her doubling over in pain but it was like she wasn’t even feeling it. She ran at me and our match continued. She tried to stab my shoulder but I deflected and slashed out, leaving a knick on her chin. She stabbed at me again; I jumped back and stared at her. She was bleeding bad but didn’t even seem to notice or care. She came at me with a flurry of stabs, moving so fast it took everything I had not to get stabbed. She suddenly stopped trying to stab me and slashed out, leaving a neat cut right across my chest. I jumped back and gripped at my chest. Being cut on the cheek was one kind of pain…having a cut right across my chest was a different level of painful, it stung and burned like fucking fire.

“Ah, in pain brother?!” She said, she sounded strange, like she was full of fucking energy. She was fucking twitching like it was taking everything she had to keep herself there and not come after me right now.

“And you aren’t?!” She just grinned and tossed her knives at the wall behind her, one managed to stick into the wall, the other clattered to the floor.

“Let’s stop playing games brother…dad was obsessed with swordplay, lets honor him eh?” She walked over to the table and threw a sheathed katana at me; I dropped the knives and caught it. I unsheathed it, the blade was black and wicked sharp, double bladed as well.

“Why aren’t you in pain?!” I said, staring as she unsheathed what seemed to be the exact same sword. She just smiled.

“Oh brother…I’m afraid I forgot to mention something when you agreed to this fight. After the battle and we retreated back here, I started recruiting again as you can imagine…during all of this, we met a very lovely man by the name of Olly. Olly you see was a big time CDC guy…and when he heard I had been bit and didn’t die like most people think happens…well you can imagine he got _very_ excited. He wanted to run a couple little tests on me which I very readily agreed too…and you know what he found out? I should be dead!” I stared at her.

“You…should be dead?”

“Oh ya!” She said, a light chuckle escaping her lips.

“Apparently everyone carries the walker ghoulification virus or whatever in their bloodstream…it’s why we all turn when we die. But me? Apparently it’s a lot more…prominent in my blood; in fact it’s as thick in my bloodstream as a regular old walker! So, I am basically super infected, but it’s…inactive. Obviously if it was active I would be a good old flesh eating walker…but he said since it was such a small bite, it didn’t kill me like it should, it’s like I got a small dose or something. But anyway I’m sure you are wondering where I’m going with all of this…” She suddenly grinned, her eyes lit up.

“To skip all the medical mumbo jumbo, the walker stuff in my blood activates when my adrenaline kicks in, and when it’s active…I gain some features of a walker. I don’t feel pain, I lose inhibition, I become a mindless killing machine! Though of course I worked on it, and now I can somewhat control it…it takes some serious will power let me tell you! The smallest slip up and I’ll lose myself to it…but I don’t want to just mindlessly slaughter you Zayn, I want to see you die.” Suddenly it made sense, how Liam lost control and did the incredible shit he did like that…he was like Doniya, he was…more infected, whatever that entails.

“So Zayn…now that you know this, are you ready to fight me? I feel I must warn you…you better kill me quick, I’ve no idea how much longer I can keep control, the longer this goes on the harder it gets to control the…bloodlust. She was twitching, her hands shook, I knew she wasn’t lying…I had to end this quickly.”

“Then let’s not waste anymore time Doniya.” I said, standing. She laughed.

“After what I just told you, you still choose to fight? A small part of me hoped you would just give up.”

“Please, I have a boyfriend at home a lot scarier than you.” I chuckled. She grinned.

“Oh yes, Liam. Eleanor was such a good little spy…after the barn incident I asked her about him…she convinced that stupid dyke Perrie to tell her about him, about that healed over scar on his back that Perrie thought looked odd, like bite marks…buts that’s impossible right Zayn? No one survives that…” She started laughing.

“Oh and my suspicions were very much confirmed when my people returned from that little ambush I had set up. They told me how he slaughtered almost everyone, how he was like a demon…oh I am going to have a fun time playing with him Zayn, I’m going to have so much fun.”

“You don’t ever talk about him Doniya!” I snarled. I ran at her, she grinned and ran at me, our swords met. The battle raged, both of us fighting with all we had. I cut her arm again, just above the elbow. She managed to get my hip, not too deep though. The warehouse was filled with the clang of swords and heavy breathing from both sides. I noticed Cher grip her gun just a little tighter; the man with the shotgun hadn’t moved an inch. I don’t know how long we went at it, 10 minutes? 20? We finally backed away from each other. She had a littering of small nicks and cuts on her arms and legs, I didn’t look much better.

“Alright Zayn, I say we finish this…” She was dripping sweat, she was breathing heavily but she still was twitching, keeping herself in control…but I could see the crazy in her eyes, she wouldn’t be able to control herself for much longer, I had to end this now.

“Couldn’t agree more!” I roared. We ran at each other, I had to kill her; I had to do this _now._ I stabbed at her, but she danced to the side…oh shit. I twisted, too late. She lashed out; I felt the blade cut across my chest, a perfect X now adorned it. I felt blood dribble down my mouth. I stumbled backwards, she slashed out again but I weakly deflected and jumped back. She laughed, I felt the impossible pain in my chest, and I fell onto one knee, my body was at its limit.

“Zayn!” Cher cried. Doniya laughed loudly.

“Are you watching Josh?!?! I’m about to finish this!!!” She sauntered to me, her eyes crazed.

“Now Zayn…” I lifted the sword to defend myself but she slashed out with her own and it clattered out of my hand a few feet away. I was on my knees, I felt my head droop and she pressed the sword against the back of my neck.

“Any last words?”

“Ya…I’m sorry.” I said. She chuckled.

“I know you are.” She raised the sword, I awaited death.

“DONIYA!!!!!!” a voice suddenly screamed. My head jerked up, she had stopped mid swing.

“No.” I said, my eyes crazed with fear.

“Oh my my my…look who it is. If it isn’t dear sweet stupid Liam.” Doniya chuckled.

“Doniya…” Harry started.

“Oh! And the sweet talking stoner! Come to die personally? I would love to cut that pretty head of curls right off your body! Turning everyone against me after Josh died…oh I had special things planned for you.” She said, she was getting crazier, I could see it in her body language, and she wouldn’t be able to control herself much longer.

“Doniya please just listen to me…” he started

“NO!” She snarled.

“You don’t get to talk you silver tongued fuck! That’s fucking it! Tell Eleanor to kill…”

“Oh honey, it’s a bit late for that.” Niall snorted.

“Eleawhore is dead, along with pretty much everyone you sent sides a few prisoners…its over.” I watched her body tense, her eyes filled with a crazed fear.

“PLAN B.” She snarled up at the guy. He dropped the walkie talkie and started running across the catwalk. He ran to some sort of control set up and started pressing buttons. Suddenly all the doors in the warehouse opened…and walkers started pouring in through half of them. She started running away up the nearest stairs, seeming to forget about me.

“FUCK!” I heard Cher scream. I could barely move, and the walkers were getting closer.

Fuck indeed

**Liam**

I saw her run up the stairs, we couldn’t let her escape.

“Cher, you and I go for Doniya. Harry and Niall get Zayn out of here…” I started. But suddenly I saw Zayn jump up and grab the sword; I couldn’t believe he was still moving. He was absolutely fucked up. Covered in cuts and blood, his white shirt was completely drenched in blood, the cuts on his chest looked insanely painful. He cut down 3 walkers and ran up the stairs after Doniya.

“ZAYN!!” Cher screamed. She started firing away at walkers and running after him. I ran after her, Edge already drawn and I started cutting down anything that got in my way. We made it to the stairs and ran after them. I could hear Harry and Niall yelling, they were cut off, too many walkers. I turned back to them.

“Just go! We got this!” Niall yelled.

“Ya! Go save Zayn! We’ll catch up!” Harry said, firing round after round into the small horde that had accumulated. I nodded and ran after Cher. We followed a blood trail left by Zayn; it led us into a small office, which led us to a fire escape. I saw Doniya and that other guy running away, Zayn not far behind. They were running down the main road into the city. We both dashed down the fire escape and ran, following the trail of blood.

“DONNNNIYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” A voice roared in the city.

“FIGHT ME YOU FUCKING COWARD!!” Zayn screamed. Suddenly gunfire, a shotgun.

“FUCK!” Cher snarled. She reloaded her handgun and we pushed ourselves harder than before. Surrounding us were streets filled with abandoned cars and skyscrapers. We were at a giant intersection, rust covered cars were everywhere. Zayn was hiding behind one, while the swat guy fired round after round at him, no clue where Doniya was.

“LEAVE HIM ALONE MOTHER FUCKER!!” Cher roared. She opened fire on him, one got him in the arm. He fired again but missed. She let loose one final round, it went right into his skull, and he collapsed.

“There he’s…” Suddenly a scream, Doniya was there. She rammed a knife into Cher’s back, Cher’s eyes widened, she twisted.

“You…bitch…” She collapsed onto the ground.

“CHER!!!!!” Zayn screamed. Doniya pulled out her sword and readied to make the final blow. Zayn rushed forward and covered Cher, Doniya let the sword down. I reached them just in time. Edge stopped her sword with a clang. I slashed out at her, she jumped back and ran, ran into the middle of the intersection where there were little to no cars, plenty of room.

“Oh…ohhhhhh Liam, ever since I found out you got bit I’ve been just itching to fight you…you realize now right? Why you get that bloodlust, the red covering your eyes, that tingle in your fingers, that itch to just fucking kill…you know what I’m talking about right?” She looked completely fucking demented.

“All…all too well Doniya. I always thought maybe it was just a survival instinct or something but I guess now I know.” I never would have suspected the bite was why I lost control, why I never felt pain or anything during it, why I fought the way I did.

“So, how’d you figure it out?” She asked, suddenly starting to circle me, I followed her lead and slowly walked in a circle.

“Eleanor. She said you and I were alike…and she clearly didn’t mean personality wise. The only thing I could think of that you and I shared were walker bites…and the way she talked, she seemed extremely and completely sure you would win. I connected the dots, I figured it out.”

“Ah…so, who bit you? Some random walker? My own mother bit me.” Doniya said, a broken look in her crazed eyes.

“My mother, the woman I trusted more than anyone else…she just got up and bit me, just like that, I didn’t even fight back at first because I just truly didn’t understand, I just couldn’t comprehend my own mother would do that. Of course once I got past that I bashed her skull in with a tire iron.”

“My…my girlfriend bit me, her name was Sophia. I was too busy killing my uncle to notice her coming back and biting my back.”

“Ah, good times eh? So Liam…I can usually control my bloodlust but unfortunately I am at my limit and am probably going to lose control any second, so I hope you’re ready to fucking kill.” I could already feel the familiar tingle, but it was a little different, red tinted my vision but I could still see, I wasn’t completely blind…but I felt the red threatening to cover my eyes, I pushed it back but it kept trying, it was hard to control, I had to be fast.

“COME ON!”She snarled, howling like a banshee. She ran at me and I ran at her and the final fight began.

Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion. I felt our blades connect again and again and again. I cut her right above her eyebrow, she nicked my shoulder. I didn’t feel pain, the wounds I had suffered earlier were a forgotten thought, all I felt was the pounding of blood in my head and the clang of metal. She rammed the pommel into my face, I retorted by ramming my fist into her face, she stumbled back, her nose now looked broken and blood drained down. I screamed and ran at her, she stabbed at me but I deflected and slashed her leg, blood sprayed from her thigh and she screamed, not in pain but in anger. She kicked me hard in the chest, I stumbled backwards and she slashed out, catching my cheek. I ran at her but she side stepped, suddenly I felt her blade against my back, I knew she had just gotten me good.

 

But I twisted back, not feeling the pain, and deflected her next swipe. Our swords clanged and sparks flew. I ducked down just as she stabbed at me, it went right over me and I took my chance. I charged and stabbed…but she was quicker. She moved just enough, just enough so I missed her heart got the sword through her shoulder. I ripped out the sword and she let out a blood curdling scream. Her arm dangled uselessly next to her as she turned and swiped at me. I deflected it, while the swords were still pressed together she rushed forward and rammed her knee into my stomach, I stumbled as she made her cut.

I stumbled back and deflected, Edge suddenly broke in half

I fell backwards; shocked to see only half of my beautiful sword in my hand, the other half was on the ground. I couldn’t believe it; I couldn’t believe Edge, my beautiful Edge, was gone. She laughed in triumph and swiped out again, I tried to deflect but she simply knocked the other out of my hands. She lashed out again but I stumbled backwards and fell onto my butt. She stood over me, grinning and laughing like a lunatic.

“Say hi to that cunt girlfriend of yours for me.” She snarled, suddenly turning angry.

“I’ll see you soon Sophia.” I mumbled, the bloodlust gone. She raised the sword.

She suddenly screamed

“Paybacks…a bitch…” Cher chuckled weakly. Doniya screamed in rage and twisted around (the same knife she stabbed Cher with sticking out of her back) to slash at her but too late, Cher had already collapsed.

Suddenly there he was, dripping blood and holding the hilt and the broken half of Edge attached to it.

“I’m sorry.” He said. She turned around, but too late.

Zayn rammed the sword through Doniya’s heart

Doniya looked so stunned, like she couldn’t process what was happening. Her sword clattered to the ground, she stumbled back a step and stared at the hilt sticking out of her chest.

Suddenly she smiled

“A genuine smile, haven’t seen that in a long time.” Zayn said quietly. She laughed.

“Few and far between.” She pulled the sword out of her chest; blood began to flow from the wound. She tossed Edge away and suddenly collapsed forward, but Zayn caught her and they both fell down onto the ground.

**Zayn**

“B-big brother…” I stared down at her, my Doniya had returned in the end, the one I grew up with, not the monster I had created, that Doniya was gone, gone forever.

“Hey its ok, its ok I got you…”

“You think I’ll get to see everyone again?” She said, her eyes already clouding over.

“Y-ya Doniya; Mom, Dad, Josh, everyone.”

“Can…can you do something for me? Can you…can you tell Harry I’m sorry I…I let him down?”

“You didn’t…”

“Shut up Zayn.” She said, weakly punching my arm. I laughed, tears streaking down my cheeks.

“God you’re so strong, such a man…” My voice cracked halfway through. She started crying too.

“You always did underestimate me; it pisses me off even now…” She coughed up blood.

“Zayn…you…promised you would…tell me…what hap…hap…happens…when you die...” My body shook as I cried, holding back the sobs.

“You get to see everyone you ever loved all together, just waiting to love you. You’ll be so much happier there Doniya I swear…” She just laughed weakly, her eyes closing.

“Hey…look at that…you finally kept a promise...” Her eyes fluttered closed and tears fell onto her cheeks as I wept, I wept for my sister, my beautiful Doniya. I created the monster inside her and then I destroyed it, my last living family was gone.

I hope my family forgives me

“Zayn…” I looked up, Liam was staring at me.

“You have to…you have to finish it.” I knew what he meant, but I had already done enough to her, I couldn’t do it.

“I…I can’t.” I said, more tears flowing down my cheeks as I sobbed.

“Zayn…” He stared at me, I knew he was right. I kissed her forehead and yanked the knife out of her back. I put the knife against her temple and pushed it in. I pulled it out and let it fall next to me.

“It’s over yeah?” Cher groaned.

“Because I won’t lie, I can’t really move right now.”

“Don’t worry, Harry and Niall should be here soon.” Liam said, leaning against a car. She mumbled something about them being slow as shit but I didn’t really pay attention.

“Zayn…” When he said my name it made me feel just a little better.

“Yeah?” Liam gave me the tiniest of smiles.

“I think we’re going to need a lot of stitches.”

**1 month later**

**Liam (Final POV)**

“You’re trying too hard.”

“I’m not trying too hard”

“Yes you are, you just got to relax a bit love.” He chuckled against my ear, nipping at my earlobe.

“You doing that isn’t helping me relax…” He rubbed my crotch then laughed.

“I can tell.”

“Right here boys.” Cher scoffed against the wall.

“Seriously, you don’t see me grabbing Cher’s boobs in front of you guys.” Niall grumbled.

“Aww let them be, I think it’s cute.” Harry said with a laugh.

“That’s because you are impossible to get in a bad mood right now Mr. ‘ omg I found the ingredients to make pizza omg omg omg’.” Louis laughed against Harry’s side.

“Lou don’t make fun of me…I finally get to have pizza tonight, do you even know…” He got right in Louis’s face.

“Do you even _know_ Lou?”

“I don’t, I don’t understand what you’re talking about Harry.” Louis stammered.

“Just nod and kiss me.” Louis nodded then kissed Harry, Harry just sat back in his chair looking damn pleased with himself.

I was currently sitting Indian style in front of the safe. The safe was kept in the weapons cabin and hadn’t moved since. When they raided the gun store in town, they found the safe and brought it back with them but after a month of trying to get the damn thing open they finally just gave up…but now I was here, and I was attempting to break into it. Wouldn’t be the first time I had broken in to a safe, but that’s a story for another time. Everyone seemed convinced I could do it, so they all came to watch…unfortunately this one was a bit tougher than anticipated, so soon boredom set in. It also didn’t help that my husband wouldn’t leave me the hell alone.

Ah, I guess I should mention Zayn and I sort of got hitched.

Marriage worked a bit different now of course. There was no big ceremony with flowers and such. We simply exchanged rings and made our vows in front of everyone…then we pretty much didn’t leave the cabin for like 2 days. Lot of sex. An insane amount of sex. Like we pretty much only stopped to go to the bathroom and to go get food. I couldn’t sit properly for a while. It was worth it.

After Doniya’s death things changed quite a bit. Zayn held a keep meeting and told everyone the truth about everything. Josh, Doniya, bites, everything. He told me before he did it he was done lying and he needed everyone to know the truth. Everyone accepted it of course, they had too much love for Zayn and the council, and even if Doniya was his fault, he was the one to bring her down. Everyone recovered from the battle but we would all have our scars. Cher had a scar on her back where she had been stabbed. Louis had a big angry scar where he had hurt his leg. I had my fair share as well, one large one across my upper back, one from the bullet, and a couple small ones on my arm.

Zayn kind of had all of us beat though

A perfect X covered his entire upper chest; he says sometimes they still ache when he thinks about it, so I make sure to kiss him until he forgets. He had a ton of tiny ones all over his arms and a big one on his hip. Sometimes when his hip scar or the chest scar starts to bother him he will just grab one of my hands and start rubbing. I usually stop what I’m doing and, like I said, kiss him till he forgets. With Doniya gone we didn’t have to worry about being attacked so plans were being made to clear out the town and making it habitable again, it would take time but we could do it.

“Love you.” He mumbled against my neck. I smiled

“You sir, found the password.” The safe popped open…and immediately the room was filled with a smell, a smell that made my nose wrinkle and my body go rigid.

“WOAH!” Harry yelled.

“That…is that…” He ran over and stared inside, he started laughing.

“Oh…oh my god it is. Oh, oh this is just the greatest fucking day ever.” Harry said, looking like a kid in a candy store.

“No way…is that what I think it is?!” Cher asked.

“It’s exactly what you think it is.” Zayn said, looking surprisingly excited.

Marijuana, the safe was filled with 5 giant blocks of Marijuana

“Where did we get this safe again? A drug lord right? Had to be a drug lord.” Louis said, staring as Harry picked up one of the plastic covered blocks and sniffed.

“Oh god that is pungent, this is some seriously good shit.” Harry said.

“Wow, never realized you were so into…well, pot.” I said. Harry laughed.

“I can’t lie, back before the end of the world, I sorta…sold a lot of pot to a lot of college students. Smoked a shit ton of it too, had to sample the product you know…”

“Funny, you never came off as the drug dealer type.” Perrie chuckled. He just grinned.

“It was just a part time thing is all, nothing too serious. Then the end of the world happened and I couldn’t very well sell it to walkers. God I haven’t smoked in 3 years…” He stared into the block.

“Holy shit nice! Seeds are in here! We can totally grow this shit!!” He got a proud look on his face.

“Zayn, I formally request that you give me complete control of all of this and let me grow it.”

“I guess we have to call you Chancellor Harry Pothead Styles from now on.” Cher chuckled. I shook my head, this was completely ridiculous.

“Well Harry, the council has to vote…” Zayn said, standing up amused. He grabbed the block and looked into it.

“Alright guys, anyone who wants to let Harry become Chancellor of Devil’s Lettuce say Stoner, Liam you vote on this one since Harry can’t obviously vote for himself.” I wasn’t a council member, but if one of the council members wasn’t able to vote (like they are hurt and can’t vote or like this, the vote involves themselves) I step in and vote for them.

“Stoner.” 4 voices said in unison.

“Stoner.” I agreed, loving the absolute joy that covered Harry’s face.

“Well then Harry, you are officially Chancellor of Mary Jane. What is your first decree?” Zayn said, looking pretty damn happy. Harry just grinned.

“First order of business, tonight everyone in this room is invited over to Zayn and Liam’s and we are gonna smoke the crap out of this shit. Then tomorrow someone help me carry the safe to our cabin and I’m going to start trying to grow it, and we can start rationing it a bit and letting people take some if they wish. But we do need to set up rules about usage, such as if you have guard duty then obviously you don’t smoke, or if you are leaving the fort and stuff…”

“We can work on that later Harry, tonight we celebrate.” Zayn said, wrapping an arm around my shoulder.

“For now we don’t tell anyone, I want to have the rules set up first.” He finished.

“Right right…” Harry said, staring at the block.

“I think I still have my bong…” he mumbled to himself.

“Well then, see you all tonight, Liam and I have some stuff we have to do.” Zayn said. Ah, _that._

“Wait we can’t just leave this open…” Niall said. I laughed.

“The combination is 04-20-15, feel free to close it up.” We left the fort not long after, just the two of us. I watched the trees go by while Zayn drove, silence filled the car.

“We’re here.” He mumbled, grabbing my hand. I smiled at him.

“Can’t really get out of the car with you holding my hand.”

“Oh, sorry babe…” He let go. I frowned, he always looked so sad here, not that I could blame him. We walked up to her grave, planted right on top of a hill overlooking the city. He sat down in front of the grave.

“Hey Doniya…” He mumbled. He just sat there, staring at her grave. This is how it usually goes, we come up here and he just stares at her grave for 10-20 minutes then we leave. I sat down next to him, my head on his shoulder.

I don’t know what came over me; the words just started pouring out.

“I never told you about Sophia did I?” I asked. He twisted his head, I met his eyes.

“No, you never did.”

“She was my girlfriend.” I said with a weak laugh. His eyes widened a little.

“Oh…”

“When the end of the world started, I didn’t worry about anyone but her. Funnily enough it was the same with her, we were in love as you can imagine. The first one to turn was my mum; luckily my uncle killed her so I didn’t have too. She managed to get my dad though, who in turn got my sister…by the end of it all, I had lost all of my family besides my Uncle Paul and Sophia. My Uncle didn’t like Sophia; Sophia was a ‘liability’ according to him. On some level he was right, she didn’t like to fight, she didn’t have the will to kill, even if it was a walker. I didn’t care though, I was in love and I would protect her with everything I had. Then it happened…we got into some small town where the only notable thing was this big factory they made cars in. We decided to explore it because we were hoping we would get lucky and find a usable car…” I shivered, the memory still just as fresh as the day it happened.

“A…A woman started screaming, no clue who, just some woman…Sophia ran to go find her, I ran after her while my Uncle yelled at us to not follow. Sophia opened the door and ran in, she screamed. I ran in but too late, a walker was biting into her neck. My uncle and I took them out and I held her as she died…” I started crying.

“I…I got so mad. My uncle was telling me to leave her, she was stupid for coming in, some other stuff but the girl I loved was dead in my arms, I stopped listening, and thinking. I turned around and I killed him before he could do anything. I didn’t pay attention; Sophia took a bite out of my back. I kicked her away but that woman from earlier was already eating my uncle, others came in, none of them noticed me. I started going crazy, you know how, I don’t remember anything but when it was over everything in that room was dead, besides me. I fainted, woke up a few hours later, gathered everything I could and left. I had to patch myself up and…and…that’s it. As I was patching myself up a few miles away I told myself I’d never travel with others again, and my 3 years of solitude started.”

He stared at me, his hands wiping away the tears on my cheeks.

“Then you met me.” He chuckled. I laughed, more tears fell down but I didn’t feel sad, not anymore.

“Then I met you.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed! I plan on posting one more small chap that is literally just me indulging myself. I am going to show you what happens when literally everyone gets stoned as hell that first night of celebration. Ends with some nice smut on Liam and Zayn's part, literally not important chap at all its just a funny and sexy side story is all. Anyway my next story is either going to be a pokemon themed story (the idea is a high school story mixed with epic pokemon battles and stuff, will be great!) and a superpower themed story (same high schoolish idea but superpowers, mixed with epic super power fights!) I haven't decided which yet so i would love your opinions! But anyway, I truly hope you enjoyed the story! Thanks for all the comments!!!!! <3


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